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Lists of Domination
GD's Top 100 Most Dominating Albums From 2000-2009 (20-11)
02/07/10 || Global Domination
20. Bloodbath: Nightmares made flesh
“Nightmares made nachos” has been praised up down and sideways already. Why? Because it is an album made by superstars who took a break from mountains of cocaine piled between pillowy breasts to get back to the roots of Swedeath. The results of their noble sacrifice are quite wonderful. For fans of Scandinavian crunchiness from the early 90’s, the first Bloodbath album was a real treat. But when they brought in Pete Townsendtgren, put Axenrot on drum duty, and cleaned up the production the real deal deliciousness came forth.
You know that Tag may have received a backstage pass to Armageddon for his mindblowing growls and shrieks on here. You know “Eaten” is one of the best fucken songs ever written. Surely you’re aware that the slow section at the end of “Stillborn saviour” is so crushingly evil it frequently murders every last occupant of European monasteries and nunneries for shits and giggles. Congrats you bastards. Now back to those snowy areolae.
-Daemonomania
19. Amon Amarth: Fate of Norns
Like I said before, Amon Amarth is a fun band fo sho, but also a very safe one, since every one of their albums really doesn’t stick out from the crowd much. That is, every one of their albums except for 2004’s “Fate of norns”, where Amarthoholics Anonymous really put some effort into the songwriting, infusing every track here with its own distinct personality, which almost makes “norns” feel like eight miniature concept albums in one big album (I know, it sounds weird, but it works).
You got heavier, mid-tempo cuts like “An ancient sign of coming storm” and “Valkyries ride”, slower, foreboding numbers like “Where death seems to dwell” and “Arson”, more up-tempo, melodic stuff like the title track and “The pursuit of vikings”, and so on, and besides the extremely expressive songwriting here, the lyrics are excellent; you got the Amon Amarth-standard “going off to war” stuff, but described in such a vividly bad-ass way that the lyrics surpass their generic nature, as well as unexpectedly tender lyrics about death and loss in the title track, and a nice one-two punch story about a pact for vengeance in the final two tracks.
Add in energetic, precise drumming from Fredrik Andersson, and the unusual clarity of top ten growler Johan Hegg’s vocals, which makes it easier for us to understand those awesome lyrics, and, despite the erroneous claims of certain other staffers, you actually have yourself a great fucken Amon Amarth album (their only such to date) with “Fate of norns”.
-Smalley
18. The Hellacopters: High visibility
From the opening riff, this album shows itself as a tour de force in rock and roll guitar. You pretty much have hit after rock hit and it doesn’t let up. Along with a new guitarist it seemed that The Hellacopters also gained more confident songwriting abilities and sound overall much tighter than previous outings. I can’t recommend you a single tune from this, I must recommend the entire album on repeat at least once for full effect. That’s assuming you can even stomach rock and roll. Whatever you do, though, don’t try to buy a new copy from Amazon.com. The sellers will rip you off. Assholes.
-Trauma
17. Amon Amarth: With Oden on our side
Amon Amarth definitely had Odin on their side when making this one. The songs are really fucken inspired. It kinda sounds like they got their ass back together after the disappointment (relatively speaking) that was “Fate of norns” so that they could fire on all levels on this album, and they do, with nine strong songs, none of them bad at all, and all of them running and trampling over most of their old material. In fact, even on the Twilight tour, they would play at least four songs or so off this album live, that’s how big of a staple these tunes are in their live set.
If you want specific examples, “Gods of war arise”, “Cry of the black birds”, “Runes to my memory” all are tunes that should live on in the collective mind of any AA fan, probably any metal fan period. It’s made even better by Johan Hegg’s brutal vocals – this man shits fucken fire! This is the best album of their discography after the turn of the decade and it may actually be their best album period. In any case, it’s definitely worthy of a spot on this list and you should all be buying this if you are thinking of checking out Amon Am Arsch.
-Altmer
16. Runemagick: Darkness Death Doom
It is rare, now that the rings of my metaltree grow numerous, that I find an album from a new crew which really makes me shit my pants. Just flat out drop nine pounds of dook in ze boxers and let gravity work its magic. But it happens. Usually with a classic band that hasn’t released much of note in the ‘00’s. But lo and behold – “Darkness death doom” is a disc which is still somewhat obscure, yet is clearly the band’s magnum opus, and constantly causes the back of my trousers to look like an accident at the corn factory.
I’ve already yipped and yapped about “DDD” in my review, so the logical thing to discuss is how much joy it has brought into my life since. A lot is the answer. Whenever a baked headbanging session is in order I’ll often reflexively choose Runemagick right off the bat. Then the guilt sets in. “Fuck, why don’t you ever listen to anything but “Darken thy flesh” or “Winter” or “Doomed”, man? You have so much other metal just gathering dust. Throw that on instead!” And Lord K knows I try. But after a few tracks the creeping need to have some rune in my tunes becomes unbearable. Next thing you know the sounds of church bells and riffs from the Swedish section of Hell immerse all. It has everything Daemboat wants in death/doom – coherence despite song length, humor despite grvmness. Add classic status despite recent year of release.
-Daemonomania
15. Grand Magus: Iron will
From the first second to the last, “Iron Will” is pure and honest passion. Grand Magus give us a fantastic slab of traditional heavy metal, coupled with a crushing depth borrowed from the doom and stoner genres. JB’s vocals are, as always, the highlight of the album. The true dedication behind every syllable comes across as if he was standing in the same room with you, and the sheer power in his output renders an automatic hard-on in every lover’s of hard rock pants. Apart from the fucken manly execution, the amazingly catchy and memorable melodies, riffs and arrangements have you pounding your air instruments along with your head until the record stops – and then you go for another spin. And another. And when you’re done, the tunes will still be roaming your mind, until the end of time. Listen to “Like the Oar Strikes the Water”, “Fear Is the Key” or my absolute favorite “Silver Into Steel”, and you’ll know exactly what I mean.
-CadenZ
14. Iron Maiden: Brave new world
So who didn’t get an instant erection at the news Bruce Dickinson was returning to Iron Maiden? Oh, I admit I turned my back on Iron Maiden, I pretended Bruce never left and there was no such thing as Blaze Bailey. But now Bruce is back and singing as beautifully as ever (no more husky Bruce), and holy-fucken-shit, he’s brought Adrian with him too! Ok, that clown Janick Gers is still there, but we can deal with that because Bruce and Adrian are back!
The most pleasing aspect of this album is how invigorated the band sounds. From the opening track, there’s an energy that pervades the album that was non-existent in their albums of the ‘90s. Somehow, reforming the band has seemingly given them back their youth. Everyone is on top of their game, the tunes are killer, the choruses are anthemic and everything you look for in a Maiden album is present and accounted for. It’s enough to bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened metalheads. Make no mistake about it, “Brave New World” is a classic and without a doubt the best Maiden album since “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. Up the Irons!
-revenant
13. Insect Warfare: World extermination
“World Extermination” is twenty two minutes of venomous, rancorous, unrelenting fucking grindcore done right. These nihilistic Texans brought back a certain uneasiness to grindcore with their misanthropic view of humanity. The title says it all. Fuck the world, fuck your sister, fuck you, you can all fucking die.
The musicianship may not be top notch but Insect Warfare possess an early 90s feel of the genre. It’s fast, violent, and not overproduced. They’ve also got a certain political punk aspect. This is the stuff that epitomizes what grind core is all about. Insect Warfare is a band in the spirit of Napalm Death and Brutal Truth, but they’ve personalized the music and made it their own.
-sly
12. The Project Hate MCMXCIX: Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate
If you know this site, you are probably already familiar with The Project Hate OMNOMNOM, which is a shame, because you and your fellow in-the-knowers are not exactly numerous, and this album should be heard by everyone with but a slight interest in metal.
I’m not a universal stooge when it comes to TPH,
and believe it or not, it is not mandatory to be one in order to stay
on staff. “Hate, dominate, congregate, eliminate”, however, deserves
this spot. When I discovered the band via this album, nothing else
would go into my player for a long time. This album is the crowning
achievement of a band that found its sound. They, or rather K, decided
to move on afterwards, which is fine by me, but it won’t ever be as good
as this. More advanced, more intricate, more detailed maybe, yes, but “HDCE” is boss.
This is where it all comes together: Perfect death grunts originating
somewhere deep beneath Bowser’s Castle, stellar, and forgive me when I
say “angelic” female vocals (it’s not the princess), chugging, downtuned
guitars whose simplicity equals their awesomeness – which has to be
multiplied tenfold due to the ultra-heavy layering going on.
I’m not a fan of female vocals, I’m not a fan of overly long songs, I’m not a fan of overdone lyrics, synthies or drum computers – which are all present on this album, but somehow they work, and I like it. Why? I guess one could say quality plays a role. This is, in short, a must-listen.
-Habakuk
11. Wintersun: Wintersun
If there ever was an album that put exceptional musicianship to good use, it was Wintersun’s self-titled debut. Jari Mäenpää – the man, the myth, the mastermind – puts on a show highlighting not only his guitar and vocal skills, but more importantly his composing and arranging expertise. Somehow he’s managed to merge melodic black metal with folk music and progressive heavy/power metal, and the mix doesn’t sound cheesy or fucked-up at all. The quality of the material is high as a hippie, and supreme execution courtesy of Mäenpää‘s mind-blowing solos, inhuman riff precision, authoritative shrieks and passionate clean vocals together with Kai Hahto’s immaculate and groovy drumming heighten the experience tenfold. Needless to say, the end result is nothing short of grrrrrRRRREAT! As Tony the Tiger would say. Believe him. Or die. Tony always tells the truth.
-CadenZ
