BOTY 2012

The more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that, at the end of 2012, I completely failed to post a list of the top 10 of the year. But fret not, because I did make a list. I just did nothing with it. 2012 felt like a very long year indeed. Unlike 2011, which had a few standout releases that hogged the limelight, 2012 has had many excellent releases over its course. Many I never even got round to listening to, so this list may end up being outdated as I pick up on the rest of 2012s releases throughout 2013!

Top 10 of 2012

Cormorant - Dwellings

The first album I bought in 2012, and one I still listen to. In terms of genre it's pretty unplaceable. Progressive black metal with folky and hard rock roots is how they are self-billed. Either way, the songs are well written, with intent and meaning, and are complex without becoming confusing. A great album with great album art to boot.

Woods of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies And Electric Light

Miserable, yet catchy, yet sad, yet not. It's like all the bits of Type O Negative you remember liking, without the bits you don't. Some have said it's not as good as Wood 4 (The Green Album), but I'm not convinced. I think, on balance, I like them both equally but for different reasons.

In Mourning - Weight Of Oceans

It's hard to put into words what's so great about this album, except that it's everything I love about progressive death metal mixed with everything I love about a bit of the old melodeath. The opening track, Colossus Colliding, is worth just putting on repeat all by itself, but don't forget the rest of the album!

Krokmitën - Alpha-Beta

Something of an art project from Canadian experimental death metallers Krokmitën, complete with a massive, psychaedelic lyric video and, just for kicks, a follow up of a tech death version of Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BMV565).

Mortad - The Myth Of Purity

Political, female-fronted melodeath from Iran. Great riffs, great songwriting, great message, and a sound familiar enough to melodeath fans (obvious comparisons to Arch Enemy incoming...) that it's easy to just get into and enjoy.

Aquilus - Griseus

Do you like black metal? Do you like classical music? Do you like strange infusions where seemingly incompatible musical styles are smushed together in a manner that makes all your synapses do a happy dance in your brain? Of course you do, and this is what will do it for you.

A Forest Of Stars - A Shadowplay For Yesterdays

An album I looked forward to since seeing the beautiful Gatherer Of The Pure video way back in July 2012. A great mix of different bits and bobs apparently hung together in a sort of steam-punky way to produce a very interesting and utterly unique listening experience.

Sabaton - Carolus Rex

What can be said about Sabaton? They do metal. About war. And it's all very bombastic. Very, very bombastic. Enough to have you marching around your lounge and singing very loudly and attempting to roll your Rs nearly as well as vocalist Joakim Brodén. It's camp and silly and awesome and hooks into your brain and won't let go.

Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage

The latest outing from French metal pioneers Gojira received mixed reactions from their fanbase, many preferring previous records. Whether this album actually succeeds in topping their previous outings or not, it doesn't change the fact that it's really very good and well deserving a place on this year's BOTY list.

Threshold - March Of Progress

The first album from Threshold since the return of Damien Wilson way back in 2007. In the intervening time Andrew "Mac" McDermott sadly died of kidney failure and the band's label InsideOut put out a variety of compilations to keep fans interested. And this album is what has finally popped out. Any good? Hell yes. It's everything a Threshold, or general prog metal, fan could have wished for.

And that's it for 2012's top 10. A very good year. 2013 is starting somewhat more slowly, but has some big releases in the pipeline and a whole Internet full of smaller bands putting out amazing material all the time. Hopefully I'll catch enough of it to find myself in the same position next December, with so much good stuff I can't filter the best from the merely amazing.

Half Time Review 2012

It's that time again; June, halfway through the year, the summer solstice. Half the year done with already, but what a cracking half a year it's been, musically speaking. Some surprises, few disappointments, many new and exciting things.

Getting straight on with business, here are my top 5 albums of the year to date. These are the albums I've got most excited about, tweeted about, played over and over and over, and generally got "in to". So, in no particular order:

Cormorant - Dwellings

A complicated mix of progressive black metal, a touch of folk and a good dose of hard rock. Starting the year with style, Dwellings was the first album I bought this year, and is still one of my favourites.

Anathema - Weather Systems

Anathema doing what Anathema does best, following nicely on from We're Here Because We're Here but improving in almost every respect. Heavier, noisier, calmer, cooler, and perfectly orchestrated.

Woods Of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies And Electric Light

Doom, gloom and epic riffs. A collection of utterly miserable, yet somehow wonderfully listenable songs. More than a passing nod to the style of Type O Negative, throw in some black metal influence and add an oboe. Perfect.

In Mourning - The Weight Of Oceans

In Mourning create precisely the sort of melodic death metal I like. From the strident, monumental opening track to the more progressive latter half, this is as much a musical journey as it is an fantastic listening experience.

Krokmitën - Alpha/Beta

Why have multiple songs when you can have a single 46 minute death metal opus? When I first heard of the multimedia event that is Alpha/Beta I was fascinated. Then I heard it, and was amazed.

Of course, the problem with choosing the top five in a year like 2012 is that there are loads that don't quite make the cut, while still being great albums. Some honourable mentions include: Bloodshot Dawn, a cracking death/thrash explosion with some amazing artwork, Sanguine, with their self-titled debut hot on the heels of last year's Bloodstock New Blood appearance, Mortad, female fronted politic death metal with some clout, Gwynbleidd, proving that prog metal really can be all heavy, all the time, and Alcest, whose soporific blackened folk still chills me in two senses of the word.

There are a few albums who I would have liked to have heard this year but haven't. Maybe I'll get round to it later? A.A. Lucassen's Lost In The New Real is definitely on my to-get-round-to list, as is the new Before The Dawn, Phoenix Rising, conspicuous for its lack of clean vocals.

So, that's my quicky round-up for the first half of 2012. Marvellous. And now, on to Bloodstock, where much metal, mayhem and mild inebriation await!