MetalSucks

Soilwork, Natural Born Chaos (Nuclear Blast, 2002)
Björn “Speed” Strid − Vocals
Peter Wichers − Guitars
Ola Frenning − Guitars
Ola Flink − Bass
Sven Karlsson − Keyboards
Henry Ranta − Drums
Produced by Devin Townsend

When Soilwork dropped Natural Born Chaos in 2002, “metalcore” was not yet a twinkle in the eye of a million American copycats. Just pure. Fucking. Swedish. Heavy metal. Though their countrymen In Flames may have melodicized death metal first (or second, after At the Gates, I suppose), Soilwork arguably did it better, and the Devin Townsend-produced Natural Born Chaos stands as the band’s defining moment.

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SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER AMY SCIARRETTO OF ROADRUNNER RECORDS AND NOISECREEP

The Dillinger Escape Plan, Calculating Infinity (Relapse, 1999)
Dimitri Minakakis – Vocals
Ben Weinman – Guitars
Brian Benoit – Guitars
Adam Doll – Bass
Chris Pennie – Drums
Produced by Steve Evetts, Ben Weinman and Chris Pennie

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity came out in September 1999, but despite the calendar year of its release, it still went on to impart some sort of influence – large in some cases, smaller and less obvious in others – on much of the metal that came after it in the ‘00s, which is why I kept “playfully” complaining to the MetalSucks head honchos about their strict rules on the sphere of influence being relegated to the ‘00 decade. Yes, I understand that rules are made for a reason, but this album sorta deserves to break them.

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Neurosis, The Eye of Every Storm (Relapse, 2004)
Scott Kelly – Guitars/Vocals
Steve Von Till – Guitars/Vocals
Dave Edwardson – Bass/Keyboards/Synths
Noah Landis – Organ/Piano/Samples
Jason Roeder – Drums
Produced by Steve Albini and Neurosis

Part of the difficulty of trying to come up with nominations for the best albums of the 21st century is trying hard to remember when the fuck your favorite albums even came out. A lot of the albums I voted for were released before I’d ever even heard of the bands who wrote them and sometimes before I was even into metal at all (the three Staind albums under lock and key in my attic will forever haunt all of my cred). The millennial cut-off point meant that any of my instinctive choices that come into my head whenever the words “Best Metal Albums” pop up weren’t even close to matching the criteria (Dissection’s Storm of the Light’s Bane). Some of my favorite bands released good albums in the 21st century but certainly didn’t come close to releasing the “best” ones (Emperor’s Prometheus) and even though I wanted to include them just to be represented, I couldn’t justify it.

It would be criminal, however, not to at least mention Neurosis considering the debt that Mastodon (who snatched the #19, #13 and #1 spots on the list) and a slew of others owe this band. Even though the fan census favorite album is ineligible (1999’s Times of Grace), even though their newer releases don’t have the far reaching influence of their 90’s work, and even though I am now sure that I was the only person to vote for this album, I urge each and everyone of you to take a first or second glance at the underrated glory of The Eye Of Every Storm.

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Pig Destroyer, Terrifyer (Relapse, 2004)
J.R. Hayes – Vocals
Scott Hull – Guitars
Brian Harvey – Drums
Produced by Scott Hull

Of the three Pig Destroyer albums our panelists voted for, Terrifyer scored the lowest. But it’s still my favorite PD offering, so fuck it, I’m gonna go ahead and write about it.

Ahem.

HOW THE FUCKING FUCK DID PIG DESTROYER NOT WIND ON THIS LIST? Their place in the grind pantheon is, like almost anything, open for debate, but at least as far as I’m concerned, they perfected grind, they epitomize grind, THEY ARE GRINDCORE.

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Strapping Young Lad, Alien (Century, 2005)
Devin Townsend– Vocals/Guitars/Keyboards
Jed Simon – Guitars
Byron Stroud – Drums
Gene Hoglan – Drums
Produced by Devin Townsend

By the time of 2005’s Alien, Strapping Young Lad frontman Devin Townsend had been keeping a frantic pace for a decade: He regularly produced three albums a year, he had solo albums leaking from his bum, and his once-abandoned SYL returned to active status.

That SYL returned with an unheard-of two albums in two years was great news, but it was unexpected that Alien would be SYL’s masterpiece, a cacophonous set of maelstrom metal with the occasional twinkle of Devy solo records. A few weeks before its release, Townsend told me that SYL (the album) came about cuz he was finally frustrated/freaked enough to make a SYL (the band) album. Like it or not, after six years had passed since their penultimate 1997 record City; lotsa shit had changed in the world at large since then, including some large-scale bloodshed.

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Emperor, Prometheus – The Discipline of Fire & Demise (Candlelight, 2001)
Ihsahn – Vocals/Guitars/Synths/Bass/Programming
Samoth – Guitars
Trym – Drums
Produced by Ihsahn

Screw you guys. Emperor don’t need your stupid list of the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century. They probably don’t give a fuck about how they’re remembered, and not just because they’ve had convicted arsonists, murderers and flying elves in their ranks. Emperor had achieved legendary status long before Prometheus – The Discipline of Fire & Demise was conceived by main man Ihsahn, so perhaps the only place to go was bigger, grander, more complex. Lucky for Ihsahn that his bandmates Samoth and Trym were busy getting their blackened death metal project Zyklon off the ground – there are very few checks to Ihsahn’s grandiose ambitions on Prometheus. The album is the sound of a master metal craftsman, lost in his own imagination, polishing and tweaking and overdubbing until every last detail gleams like obsidian.

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Andrew W.K., I Get Wet (Island, 2002)
Andrew W.K. – vocals
Jimmy Coup – Guitar
Erik Payne – Guitar
Frank Werner – Guitar
Gregg Roberts – Bass
Donald Tardy – Drums
Produced by Andrew W.K., John Fields, Scott Humphrey, TSD, Frank Vierti

It has been suggested by some of our commenters that I don’t belong here. Be it my distaste for deathgrind, my inability to appreciate the tr00 kvlt nature of Norwegian black metal, or the fact that I don’t give a flying fuck about Protest The Hero, I’ve always felt like an outsider around you people. Yet at no point did I feel so out of place than during the countdown of the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far. Sure, I participated. I submitted a list. I presumed many of my picks would never make the cut (Unsane’s Visqueen; Zozobra’s Harmonic Tremors), but also acknowledged less esoteric favorites of mine from the past nine-and-a-half-years (Boris Pink; Down’s III: Over The Under) that I thought had a shot. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the sheer disappointment these past few weeks when none of my favorite albums made the goddamn list.

Rather than be mature about this sad state of affairs, I am now going to explain why everyone who voted in this poll is a fucking butthole for not selecting Andrew W.K.’s 2002 masterpiece, I Get Wet.
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Isis, Oceanic (Ipecac, 2002)
Aaron Turner – Vocals/Guitars
Michael Gallagher – Guitars
Jeff Caxide – Bass
Aaron Harris – Drums
Bryant Clifford Meyer – Electronics/Guitars/Vocals
Produced by Matt Bayles and Isis

Around three years ago, I reached a crossroads with metal. At the time, I was listening to Anaal Nathrakh, Vital Remains’ Dechristianize, and Guttural Secrete, and each of the three were the heaviest of their respective niche, in my opinion. But they were heavy to a degree where I genuinely couldn’t see music getting any heavier: where do you go when you’re already firing on all cylinders, and even in doing that, you’re firing more than most of your contemporaries? To be honest, with all three bands, a notch “heavier” would leave them as noise (in fact, listen to Anaal Nathrakh’s “Castigation and Betrayal” off of 2007’s otherwise un-noteworthy Hell is Empty and the Devils Are Here for proof), perhaps even so heavy they couldn’t support themselves. So it was from here that I went outward to see what bands could do with heaviness that didn’t involve trying to out-brutal or out-necro one another. It was here where I discovered drone doom, post-metal, and the like: bands that tested patience not by being loud and fast, but slow, bordering on meandering (and often crossing that border in the case of many lesser bands), creating soundscapes and spaces in lieu of obliterating them, focusing on building mood but not emotion. It was here I stumbled upon Isis, and specifically their perfect, still-career best album, Oceanic.

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The list was never meant to be definitive – there would be no way to compile a so-called “definitive” list of the “best” metal albums anyways. We were just hoping to have some fun, and we’ve certainly had fun. And hopefully at least some of you have had fun, too.

But no matter which 21 albums our panel ended up selecting, there were always going to be hundreds – literally hundreds – of worthy records that just weren’t going to get the love they deserve.

To that end, throughout the remainder of the week, each MetalSucks staffer will be writing about one album that he wishes had made the list.

In the meantime, after the jump, you can check out all the albums our panelists voted for that didn’t make the list; in other words, these albums would be on a list of the  543 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far.

We hope that it continues to provide fodder for your arguments.

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OH, C’MON. YOU KNEW IT WASN’T REALLY ICP.

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #1 album, coming in with a total of 320 points…

Mastodon, Leviathan (Relapse, 2003)
Troy Sanders — Bass, Vocals
Brent Hinds — Guitars, Vocals
Bill Kelliher — Guitars
Brann Dailor — Drums
Produced by Matt Bayles and Mastodon

“Deedily-deedily-doo” might be as instantly recognizable as any Mastodon riff, but the guitar riff that starts Leviathan album-opener “Blood & Thunder” is THE quintessential Mastodon riff. Riff; repeat; queue one of Brann Dailor’s graceful, rolling drumfills and it’s fucking ON. An album full of fire, fury, aggression; punk, metal; post-hardcore riffage, classic metal guitar leads; distinctly Mastodonian gruff vocals. On Leviathan, Mastodon infused their hardcore roots with more metal and more prog; it’s the album on which Mastodon became Mastodon.

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We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #1 album, coming in with a total of 420 points…

Insane Clown Posse, Bizzar/Bizaar (Island, 2000)
Violent J — Vocals
Shaggy 2 Dope — Vocals
Produced by Mike E. Clark and ICP

Twenty albums down and the anticipation has built for the #1 record. It looks like the panel pulled one out of left field here, as most of you probably forgot about this sleeper record that made such a big impact on metal for this new millennium. And the catch here is that it wasn’t just one record, but a DOUBLE album that takes the spot. Those records being Insane Clown Posse’s 2000 releases of Bizzar and Bizaar. Most of you have been fans of this duo since their major label debut in the mid-90s. Before there was Slipknot, before there was Mudvayne, and before there was the greatness that is Mushroomhead – there was ICP and their legion of “Juggalos.” Forget “maggots” – these fans connected with their band unlike anyone has since. Hell, what other band has had the balls to feud with Eminem, especially in such a “safe”city like Detroit?

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We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #2 album, coming in with a total of 247 points…

Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn (Prosthetic, 2003)
Randy Blythe – Vocals/Guitars
Mark Morton – Guitars
Willie Adler – Guitars
John Campbell – Bass
Chris Adler – Drums
Produced by Devin Townsend and Lamb of God

I want to talk about what is arguably Lamb of God’s finest hour as a piece of this entire list. Because I could tell you “Oh it’s so brutal and it rocks so hard and it raped my sister and killed my dog,” but whatever. The bottom line is, if you don’t own this album, you really should.

No, I’m much more interested in what As the Palaces Burn represents. Click to read more…

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #3 album, coming in with a total of 237 points…

Opeth, Blackwater Park (Music for Nations, 2001)
Mikael Åkerfeldt – Vocals/Guitars
Peter Lindgren – Guitars
Martin Mendez – Bass
Martin Lopez – Drums
Produced by Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt

There is no metal band that traverses the chasm between beauty and brutality as confidently as Sweden’s Opeth. From their first album Orchid on through last year’s Watershed, Mikael Åkerfeldt and his bandmates have embraced the complexity and romanticism of 70s progressive rock, rejecting two of metal’s central tenets: it’s gotta be simple, and it’s gotta be ugly.
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We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #4 album, coming in with a total of 204 points…

Killswitch Engage, Alive or Just Breathing (Roadrunner, 2002)
Jesse Leach – Vocals
Adam Dutkiewicz – Drums/Guitars/Piano
Mike D’Antonio – Bass
Joel Stroetzel – Guitars
Tom Gomes – Drums
Produced by Adam Dutkiewicz

“THE TIME APPROACHES!!!” Jesse Leach howls in the first seconds of Alive or Just Breathing. “Kingdoms will rise to power/but kingdoms fall to dust.”

It’s as though he were talking about nu-metal.

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Love our 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century List or hate it, a sale’s a sale and you can’t fuck with saving money. MetalSucks has partnered up with The Omega Order to bring you a special deal; 12% off any of the 21 albums on our list! Fill in that classic album that’s been missing from your collection or take a chance on a band you hadn’t heard of before (we’re just asking for flames here, aren’t we?).

Check out the MetalSucks 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century / The Omega Order storefront. Prices shown are before the discount; just enter the coupon code “MS21″ when you check out, and you’ll be all set. On a $15 CD, that’s almost $2 off!

Please free to tell us how much our list sucks in the comments below.

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #5 album, coming in with a total of 181 points…

Converge, Jane Doe (Equal Vision Records, 2001)
Jacob Bannon – Vocals
Kurt Ballou – Guitars
Aaron Dalbec – Guitars
Nate Newton – Bass
Ben Koller – Drums
Produced by Matthew Ellard and Kurt Ballou

The still-unmatched excellence of Converge’s 2001 masterpiece Jane Doe (though 2006’s No Heroes came close) was a precursor to where the metal underground would go in the decade that followed it: the unending blurring of the borders between metal, hardcore, and grindcore. But whereas their disciples would rely heavily on irony and weak pop culture references over a carbon copy of Converge’s sound, Jane Doe is still as powerful as it was initially, an unrestrained marriage of savagery and pathos perfectly captured by Matthew Ellard’s and guitarist Kurt Ballou’s top notch production. The album hasn’t been cheapened by the years that followed it; in fact, it’s only grown more potent with time. While they weren’t the first band to weld squirrelly guitar violence, crushing slow parts, and jagged melody, they were one of the first to make it sound important.

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SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER NICK GREEN OF DECIBEL MAGAZINE

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #6 album, coming in with a total of 179 points…

Killswitch Engage, The End of Heartache (Roadrunner, 2004)
Howard Jones – Vocals
Adam Dutkiewicz – Guitars
Joel Stroetzel – Guitars
Mike D’Antonio – Bass
Justin Foley – Drums
Produced by Adam Dutkiewicz

It’s worth noting that Howard Jones devoted almost all of his allotted space in the “thank you” section of the liner notes to apologizing to fans for changing the chemistry of Killswitch Engage on The End of Heartache. His note is sensitive, contrite and nearly as long as the lyrics of “Hope Is…,” which ironically conveys the exact same sentiment with a hint more poetry and obfuscation. Not that he really needed to say “sorry” for anything, since the group’s previous full-length, Alive or Just Breathing, benefited enormously from Jones vocals in a live setting. Still, sometimes it’s nice to have it all spelled out and entered into the ledger, so you can simultaneously focus on the present and shut the door on an uneasy chapter in your own band’s history. So, thanks for that.
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SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER IAN CHRISTE OF BAZILLION POINTS BOOKS & SIRIUS XM RADIO

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #7 album, coming in with a total of 172 points…

Lamb of God, Ashes of the Wake (Epic, 2004)
Randy Blythe – Vocals
Mark Morton – Guitars
Willie Adler – Guitars
John Campbell – Bass
Chris Adler – Drums
Produced by Machine and Lamb of God

Hooray, it’s number seven — listen to all those nearly-unanimous cheers for Lamb of God!

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We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #8 album, coming in with a total of 170 points…

In Flames, Clayman (Nuclear Blast, 2000)
Anders Fridén – vocals
Jesper Strömblad – Guitar
Björn Gelotte – Guitar
Peter Iwers – Bass
Daniel Svensson – Drums
Produced by Fredrik Nordström

It was my senior year of college in 1996, sitting in coffee shop, reading the latest music rag (taking a break from my Old Testament studies) when I came across a review for In Flames’ The Jester Race. Something about it caught my eye as that was the time I was getting more into of the Scandinavian metal like At The Gates and Amorphis. I picked it up and was blown away how they had made “death metal” so “melodic.” I almost denounced my religion and started a cult dedicated to this semi-new genre of metal!

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SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER D.X. FERRIS, AUTHOR OF 33 1/13: SLAYER’S REIGN IN BLOOD

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #9 album, coming in with a total of 166 points…

Gojira, From Mars to Sirius (Listenable/Prosthetic, 2005)
Joe Duplantier – Vocals/Guitars
Christian Andreu – Guitars
Jean-Michel Labadie – Bass
Mario Duplantier – Drums
Produced by Joe Duplantier

In modern metal, water is the new fire. Mastodon, Isis, Gojira. Especially Gojira. Who knew that environmental concerns could be metal as fuck? Sure, Kreator, C.O.C., and others grazed on some eco-friendly themes back in the day. But these four French dudes make a full meal of it. And it’s not feel-good hippie shit. In Gojira’s threatened world, nature’s green is splattered with red blood. Metal is best when it’s elemental. From Mars to Sirius is a concept album that – if I follow correctly – relates an interplanetary quest to resurrect a dead planet. We’re talking life, death, and rebirth on a grand scale.
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