Anyways… we made a valiant attempt to get Chris to give us his top 10 picks, but he kept saying something about the Saw 6 soundtrack, so we bumped him down to five. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

Mark’s List:

There were so many huge releases in 2009, it was hard to pick a top 10.  The year saw new music from metal’s heaviest hitters (Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Megadeth, Mastodon, Anthrax) as well as comebacks from Alice in Chains and Immortal.  But ultimately, I believe 2009 will be remembered as when the new generation firmly took hold of the metal scene, as demonstrated by the outstanding releases from Skeletonwitch, Scale the Summit and Baroness.

10. Megadeth – Endgame (Roadrunner)
It’s no Rust in Peace Part-2, but with Endgame, Mustaine continues to prove that he can still crank out some great headbangers.
Check Out: This Day We Fight!

9. Slayer – World Painted Blood (American/Sony)
The second album since the return of Lombardo offers a new sound, but the same intensity.  One of the best album jackets/concepts of the year.
Check Out: Snuff

8. Devin Townsend Project – Addicted (Hevy Devy)
In a banner year for Devin, it’s the pop-metal soundtrack to a Anime-dream sequence (most likely depicting flight through a post-apocalyptic Japan).
Check Out: Hyperdrive!

7. Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plauge (Metal Blade)
Never ones to disappoint, Alex Webster and Corpsegrinder deliver the year’s most brutal offering.
Check Out: Carnivorous Swarm

6. Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue (Virgin/EMI)
Seattle’s finest create a comeback record worthy of the memory of Layne.
Check Out: Private Hell

5. Behemoth – Evangelion (Metal Blade/Nuclear Blast)
Negral conjures a maelstrom of demonic chaos that could easily convert anyone into a heretic.
Check Out: Ov Fire and the Void

4. Immortal – All Shall Fall (Nuclear Blast)
The Blizzard Beasts return with an incredible album that captures their focused and raw power.
Check Out: Arctic Swarm

3. Scale the Summit – Carving Desert Canyons (Prosthetic)
An instrumental masterpiece so rich in textures, tones and mood that it gets better with each listen.
Check Out: Dunes

2. Skeletonwitch – Breathing the Fire (Prosthetic)
A dominating statement from the Ohio thrash-masters.  An album that defines the term “thrash metal”.
Check Out: Submit to the Suffering

1. Baroness – Blue Record (Relapse)
Heavily layered with advanced concepts and dynamic playing.  Baroness once again delivers the album of the year.
Check Out: Jake Leg

Chris’ List:

Is a Top 5 acceptable?

5. Converge – Axe To Fall (Epitaph/Deathwish)
A somewhat fresh album from a familiar band that refuses to turn bad.
Check Out: Dark Horse

4. Cave In – Planets of Old (Hydrahead)
A four-song reunion works fine for me. Especially when the four songs kick tall ass.
Check Out: Retina Sees Rewind

3. Mastodon – Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)
Bringing progress to Progressive Metal.
Check Out: Divinations

2. Baroness – Blue Record (Relapse)
The soundtrack that plays as my brothers and I descend to battle from snowy foothills astride armored polar bears, the perpetual winter sun smoldering unaware on a frozen, indifferent horizon.
Check Out: The Sweetest Curse

1. Propagandhi – Supporting Caste (Smallman)
Fast, angry, complicated. Even more so than before. The band affirms their category-defying musical identity, perhaps at the peak of their powers.
Check Out: Supporting Caste

Justin’s List:

Wow. What a fantastic year for metal. Narrowing this list down was quite a challenge… especially when I knew my top spot was reserved for a non-metal album. GASP! Yes folks… it’s true… my choice for album of the year goes to an indie rock band. But don’t worry… I’m not planning on wearing tight pants or reading Pitchfork anytime soon. In fact, I think I’ll carve “SLAYER” into my arm right now just to prove my self-worth. Eh… nevermind. That shit hurts.

10. Coalesce – Ox (Relapse)
15 years in, Coalesce continue to be one of the freshest sounding bands in the hardcore and metal community.
Check Out: Wild Ox Moan

9. Slayer – World Painted Blood (American/Sony)
Fast and raw… just how you probably like it. I know I do.
Check Out: Psychopathy Red

8. Converge – Axe To Fall (Epitaph/Deathwish)
As dynamic as it is heavy, Converge’s latest offering kicks you in the teeth before tucking you into bed. Awesome.
Check Out: Axe to Fall

7. Scale the Summit – Carving Desert Canyons (Prosthetic)
Remember the kind of music you and your friends were churning out in your early 20s? Yeah… it sucked compared to this.
Check Out: Sargasso Sea

6. Goes Cube – Another Day Has Passed (The End Records)
The Campbell’s Chunky Soup of the metal world… hearty and damn tasty!
Check Out: The Only Daughter

5. Baroness – Blue Record (Relapse)
Blue Record is one of those rare “all-emcompassing” albums. Great artwork, great music, great everything.
Check Out: The Sweetest Curse

4. Mastodon – Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)
Like your beard, Crake the Skye really grows on you. And it totally rules.
Check Out: Oblivion

3. Revocation – Existence is Futile (Relapse)
These guys made me fall in love with shred all over again. When are we going to see the Existence is Futile tab book? (or vinyl for that matter… nudge nudge wink wink Relapse).
Check Out: Dismantle the Dictator

2. Skeletonwitch – Breathing the Fire (Prosthetic)
I Can Has Metal?
Check Out: Repulsive Salvation

1. The Life and Times – Tragic Boogie (Arena Rock/Hawthorn Street)
A non-metal album was my top choice of the year? Damn straight. Call me what you will, but me and my cred stand behind this decision. This band and album are absolutely amazing.
Check Out: Tragic Boogie

Honorable Mention:

Cave In – Planets of Old (Hydrahead)
Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue (Virgin/EMI)
Burnt By the Sun – Heart of Darkness (Relapse)
Buried Inside – Spoils of Failure (Relapse)
Propagandhi – Supporting Caste (Smallman)
Immortal – All Shall Fall (Nuclear Blast)
Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plauge (Metal Blade)

Mark’s Review:

When Black Metal first hit the scene, I laughed and figured it was some sort ov joke. After reading Lords ov Chaos and hearing the stories ov guys burning churches and members ov Mayhem eating pieces ov brain after finding their singer lying in a dead heap after a self-inflicted shotgun wound made me laugh. Are these guys serious? Is there really NOTHING to do in Norway? Wow, they must really LOVE Satan! Then, there were the endless amount ov ridiculous Black Metal photos showing fake wooden swords, smeared corpse paint and fake blood. I figured it was all just a lame attempt to scare parents and the establishment. Then I went to see Manowar at Riley’s Rock House (RIP), and Immortal opened. After laughing at the thought ov the three ov them ordering Blizzards at the nearby Dairy Queen, they soon took the stage, and I was absolutely blown away. I remember in the bathroom afterward, there was a guy at the urinal next to me just muttering to himself, “Immortal… Immortal…“, definitely the sign ov a good performance.

Since then, I’ve dabbled in mostly “commercial” Black Metal: Dimmu, Emperor, Gorgoroth and Behemoth. Behemoth’s music appealed to me immediately; their songs were great, and I really liked the unending sonic onslaught they created. And since I enjoyed, Demigod and The Apostasy, I was looking forward to hearing their new album. Evangelion is heavy and fast as hell, and it’s probably their most complete album yet.

Daimonos is the ultimate album starter. Taking its cues from Hell Awaits, screams from hell swirl around to a boil before Nergal and company begin to destroy you. When the chorus chants begin, you’ll find yourself looking around the room for something to sacrifice. The drumming and guitars are so fast and tight, it’s like a buzz-saw that only wants to tear your flesh from your bones. Inferno’s drumming is just ridiculous, with or without the help of triggers. And unlike most black metal releases, the production is fantastic. Daniel Bergstrand and Colin Richardson managed to create heavy and organic tones from guitars and drums which are obviously very processed. Songs such as Lucifer and Alas, the Lord is Upon Me, show that they can still bring the evil when the speed is slower, but Behemoth really shines when they ramp up the BPM. No where is this more apparent then on the song Ov Fire and the Void, quite possibly one ov the best metal songs I’ve heard this year. It’s simply awesome.

Because I’m saving my “5 Kings” for the new Baroness, I cant quite give the album a perfect review. But I have to say, if you’re into what makes metal great, get Evangelion. It has all the speed, power and heaviness you’d expect mixed with great songs and a satanic vibe that is sure to scare parents and give you goosebumps.

Mark’s Rating:

King says: “If I’m ever in Poland and run out of chicken femurs, I’ll give these guys a call!”

Ed’s Review:

Poland has delivered a few amazing metal bands over the years without a doubt. After my soon-to-be wife turned me on to Decapitated (the infamous child prodigies of the Polish death metal underground) a few years back, I decided that I would give just about any band from this often ridiculed European region a chance. Enter BEHEMOTH who have apparently been placed in the “blackened death metal” category for quite some time now (huh?) much to my surprise. Perhaps I’ll get slapped by half of the message-board community (and probably be labeled a douche for saying this), but I didn’t even know this particular sub-genre existed. But I suppose I can understand it now – in Behemoth’s case, we are talking about a diabolically rich hybrid of black metal imagery and tone combined with the fierce and technical prowess of extremely brutal death metal, which is enough to make any weakling (or even reasonably upstanding citizen) squirm in his underwear indefinitely.

But seriously, no matter what sub-genre people are willing to toss around here, Behemoth have proven that they definitely have what it takes to match the metal with the face paint on their 9th studio album Evangelion. This is a very brutal slab of extreme metal that will probably have you reaching for the nearest pint of Żywiec the very minute it begins to thrash your head into a pulpy goiter.

Opening this ferocious riff-fest of an album are two blasting tracks of occult-laced mayhem sure to please anyone who can appreciate getting their face melted by this brand of metal. Particularly opener Daimonos slays with a magnificent velocity, then catches the ear with a breakdown solo eerily similar to the one in “Zero Tolerance” from Death’s Symbolic album (which I must say I almost busted a nut to). Shemhamforash is an all-out blast beat for the most part, ending with what sounds like a sitar (showing a possible Nile influence or maybe just an excuse to be weird and trippy – either way it works). Ov Fire and the Void, easily the album’s best track, is a grinding mid-tempo masterpiece with some classic textural guitar work overlapped with the speedy underbelly of Inferno’s kick-drumming, which brings to mind Decapitated at their best. And speaking of Inferno, this guy is a sick drummer. He’s so sick, he might need some extra face paint just to cover up how fucking talented he is, and in my opinion he may be the key to the quality of this record. My favorite guitar riff stands at the intro of Transmigrating Beyond Realms ov Amenti which is a loopy spiral of dischordant madness, down tuned and circling around Inferno’s impressive percussion. The album continues along this path consistently, with the top-notch production never taking away from the overall intensity (black metal “purists” please be forewarned: this is an absolute hi-fidelity production to the max, so if you are looking for 4-track white noise soaked in goats blood, be sure to look elsewhere). The only shortfall for me is the final track Lucifer, where the band tries their hand at doom metal, old-school style. The track seems a bit long and unnecessarily repetitive, although it could be far worse for a band of this caliber.

Ed’s Rating:

King says: “If I ever get a Polish scent hound, he shalleth be named BEHEMOTH!”

Behemoth – “Ov Fire And The Void”

(Warning… video NSFW)