Allmusic's Favorite Metal Albums of 2007

Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde
The relationship between heavy metal and the so-called "shoegazer" movement of the early '90s might not be apparent in writing, but with Justin Broadrick's amazing transmutation of his grinding industrial metal in Napalm Death and Godflesh into the dark, sonic bliss of his current incarnation as Jesu, it doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore. Immediately upon first listen the connection between one-man band Neige's French "black metal" roots and his current neo-psychedelic explorations under the Alcest moniker doesn't seem so far-fetched, natural even. Playing all the instruments on Alcest's debut full-length Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde ("Memories of a Future World") Neige builds layers upon layers of ecstatically distorted guitars that evoke obvious comparisons to My Bloody Valentine's sonic extravaganzas and less obvious nods to the brooding minor-key post-metal of Jesu, only perhaps a bit sunnier. Read more >>



Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
After Miss Machine, Dillinger Escape Plan fans were divided. Many of the folks who were attached to the screaming mathematical metal of Calculating Infinity bailed on the band, disapproving of the experimental musical direction and the meathead appearance of new singer/screamer Greg Puciato. Open-minded listeners were excited about the progressive journey they were taking and many critics hailed the group as a true innovator of metalcore. Ire Works succeeds in many of the same ways that their previous album did, while branching out creatively. They continue to toy with technical metal, blistering hardcore, jazz breaks, and post-punk, but here they evolve again by adding more twists and turns with additional electronic elements. Read More >>



Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diablo
Dimmu Borgir's brand of symphonic black metal, industrial rock, and near-classical melodic fare has been developing nicely since their beginning in the 1990s. The crew backing Shagrath's lead vocals -- killer guitar by Erkekjetter Silenoz and some wonderfully harmonic backing vocals that are near operatic, or at least influenced by Jon Anderson and Yes -- have become a brand in metal. With In Sorte Diaboli, the band has gone the route of Therion and numerous others in creating a concept album about a man who grows up in fear and ignorance and believes in the Christian church, and somehow, after studying for years as a monk, rejects everything and becomes a heretic who runs afoul of the church. In doing so, he understands his fate is at stake. Musically, Dimmu Borgir are unrelentingly brutal and harmonic all at once. Songs meld and blend into one another, becoming a nightmarish brood of shred and scrape dreamscapes. Read More >>


Machine Head - The Blackening
Machine Head's The Blackening is an over the top rage and pummelfest with all the qualities that earned the group its enormous fan base by touring and recording. The record starts out unlikely enough, and gladly enough, with a left-of-center call to arms to the youth of this nation to not accept blindly the words (and threat) of "patriotic brutes." It calls for rage with triple-timed slamming beats and blistering lead guitar breaks, as the piece alternates between death metal, industrial metal, thrash, and prog. It blends seamlessly. At ten-and-half minutes for an opening cut, one can tell this is no original heavy metal record. "Beautiful Mourning" is anything but gothic heavy metal; it begins with a taut, explosive riff matched by the drum kit, and then Robb Flynn is off and running, celebrating being "taken under" by her, and the seductive power of both women and death. The thrash element here rivals Slayer at their very best, and breaks new ground within the realm of composition for aggressive music. Read More >>


Neurosis - Given to the Rising
If you were unpleasantly surprised by 2001's A Sun That Never Sets and even further alienated by 2003's The Eye of Every Storm, fearing that the long-reigning, wildly influential Neurosis (can you name a post-hardcore or metal band that hasn't been influenced by them directly? -- they've done everything!) were finally sinking into the post-rock sunset, Given to the Rising should buoy your spirits considerably and bring back your swagger. Something transpired between the creepy-crawly, relatively introverted quietism of the last two recordings and this beast, recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago with Steve Albini, who's been onboard with Neurosis forever (this is the only band he works with that has a real bass presence on its records; ever notice that?). The evidence is in the opening title track, which simply explodes out of the gate with no intro, no sonic weirdness, no pretentious gradual build; it's all big-pregnant with tension riffing, electronic noise whir, and vocalist Steve Von Till punching through that punishing guitar, drum, and bass throb mix. Read More >>


Pelican - City of Echoes
The nearly rabid critical acclaim that followed Pelican's debut full-length, Australasia, in 2003 and the sludge and blast of 2005's The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (both on Aaron Turner's Hydra Head imprint) has been both blessing and curse for the band upon the release of 2007's City of Echoes. In other words, there is a tension surrounding the album's release that creates a make-or-break situation among fans and critics. While the recordings have some similar traits -- they are the same band, after all -- City of Echoes moves off the dock into sonic waters they've not entered before. Read More >>


Striborg - Nefaria
Praise be to Southern Lord for issuing this new title in the ever labyrinthine (and hard as hell to get a hold of) catalog of Sin Nanna, and his alter ego, the one-man Transylvanian black metal band Striborg. Sin Nanna is among the strangest, most misanthropic characters in the history of black metal. Rather than scream obscenities or death chants to the Christian God, Striborg howls from the forest to the forest. These are songs of desolation and rage that are expressed outward, but seem to be directed not so much at the listener as toward some nightmarish catharsis. Yet the vocals are so processed and buried in his ultra lo-fi mix -- like another instrument -- that one has to read the lyrics to figure out what's happening. Read More >>


Turisas - Varangian Way
Finnish sword-wielding berserkers Turisas cemented their name within the hallowed halls of the Viking metal scene in 2004 with the seminal Battle Metal, creating an entire subgenre fueled by what can only be described as "over the top everything." Churning out records to accompany muted viewings of 300 or the Lord of the Rings trilogy is nothing new (Manowar has been it doing it for years), but on the ambitious Varangian Way the group takes it one step further, creating its own unique narrative. Built around the epic journey of a group of traders, mercenaries, and pirates ("Varangians") exploring trade routes between their 9th century homeland and Constantinople, Varangian Way is infinitely more cinematic in scope than Battle Metal, employing narration, accordions, and massive choirs (the group still relies on main man Warlord Nygård's tasteful keyboard work for the orchestral bits) to move the story along. Read More >>


Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
Virtually anyone who came into contact with Wolves in the Throne Room's 2005 long-player, Diadem of 12 Stars on Vendlus, fell in love with it, and for good reason. This Olympia, WA, underground black metal trio had its own take on the music; sure, it had blastbeats, screeching vocals, and furious riffs, but there is so much more to it than that. Oh yeah, no corpse paint, either (though an occasional hooded robe is worn in caves around campfires). For starters, their title track was 20 minutes long, and it changed constantly, layered through with heavy atmospherics, dark bewitching gloomy soundscapes that evoked the sound of the rain in the foggy forests of their hometown. The entire record -- even with its furious speeds alternating with funereal dirges, gorgeously paranoid ghostly keyboard passages, and a female vocal or two -- still had more than enough howling, buzzing guitars, and distorted crunch drums amid the blazing bass throb. Read More >>


Baroness - Red Album
There isn't exactly a plethora of metal bands in the early 21st century that are eager to mix indie rock sounds into their noise, which makes the Savannah, GA-based quartet Baroness stand out from the overcrowded metallic pack. On their first-ever full-length release (and first for the Relapse label), 2007's The Red Album, the riffs are quite reminiscent of guitar-driven, post-hardcore bands out of the mid-'90s (a style which would later serve as the basis for emo bands several years later), while singer/guitarist John Baizley only knows one way to vocalize: holler, holler, holler. Read More >>



Deathspell Omega - Fas -- Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum
Fas -- Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum is the second album in Deathspell Omega's metaphysical trilogy concerning God, Satan, and the human relationship with and between the two seemingly opposing forces. In fact, one member of this group, which remains shrouded in as much mystery as the band can consciously muster, is the founder of the Norma Evangelium Diaboli satanic black metal scene in Poitiers, France. In the 21st century, the deep underground of French black metal is making its way onto the shelves of shops on the other side of the Atlantic and is garnering fans like wildfire. Read More >>



Dark Tranquility - Fiction
Intricacy, musicality, craftsmanship, and nuance are words that, back in 1989, were hardly ever used to describe death metal -- a style so extreme, so ferocious, so intent on annoying parents at any cost that it seemed destined to self-destruct. But Dark Tranquillity and their expansive colleagues in Gothenburg, Sweden, refused to believe that death metal could not be musical, nuanced, and melodic, and that outlook continues to define them on Fiction. This rewarding CD was recorded in 2006 and released in 2007, the year that marked Dark Tranquillity's 18th anniversary. Perhaps 18 years isn't all that long compared to the Rolling Stones celebrating their 45th anniversary in 2007; nonetheless, 18 is an impressive number when one recalls all the naysayers who, in the late '80s, thought death metal would be long gone by the 21st century. But Dark Tranquillity not only survived -- they continued to provide highly consistent discs such as Fiction, which, like many of their previous releases, achieves a healthy, coherent, natural-sounding balance of the melodic and the extreme. Read More >>


Ensiferum - Victory Songs
Quite often, bands that are described as melodic death metal are not genuinely melodic. At the Gates, Age of Ruin, and In Flames are examples of genuinely melodic contributors to death metal, but in many cases, the word melodic has been applied to death metallers who -- truth be told -- treat melody like a mere afterthought and favor brutality for the sake of brutality. Thus, it is important to stress that melody is never an afterthought on Ensiferum's Victory Songs; it is a crucial part of what the Finnish band does on a death metal/folk-metal album that, for all its intensity and in-your-face aggression, is highly musical and thrives on intricacy and craftsmanship. Read More >>


Jesu - Conqueror
On the second Jesu full-length -- following up the critically acclaimed Silver EP -- Justin Broadrick, who has worn as many hats (artist, producer, engineer, DJ, etc.) and played with as many sounds as is possible in his career and the man isn't even half done -- does a near 180 at distancing himself from his influential days founding speed metal freaks Napalm Death and industrial forefathers Godflesh and cocks a firm ear backwards toward the '90s while still pointing his "heaviness" Geiger counter ever forward. There are eight cuts on Conqueror, all of them deeply melodic, ploddingly slow, and emotionally melancholic. It's no longer about metal that's punishing nor is being purposely obnoxious and irritating (though the more musically conservative black-clad metal hordes might be offended by this) but rather, about digging deep into the well of the heart for what's actually true for the songwriter (at least for right now). Read More >>


Sigh - Hangman's Hymn: Musikalische Exequien
Over the course of 17 years and six incrementally mature and eclectic albums, Sigh have deservedly earned their stripes, not only as most assuredly Japan's finest black metal band, but easily one of worldwide metal's most innovative and unconventional acts. Until 2005's perplexing misfire Gallows Gallery, that is, where childishly simplistic vocals and cornball melodies suddenly conspired with the group's usual metallic ingredients and supra-technical musicianship to turn up some baffling musical hybrids. Made even more intolerable by a certifiable production disaster, these misfires fell afoul of even their most open-minded fans, and ultimately led to Sigh being dropped by their then record company. Thankfully, its immediate successor, 2007's Hangman's Hymn represents an unqualified return to form... Read More >>


Watain - Sworn to the Dark
Sweden isn't accustomed to playing second fiddle to Norway in very many categories, but black metal has long been one of them, with a strong nucleus of longstanding bands (Mayhem, Emperor, Darkthrone, Enslaved, etc.) wielding such a domineering influence over the genre that few outsiders have successfully challenged their supremacy. That's not to say that there haven't been some serious contenders, however, and among them are surely the ghost-faced, blood-drenched Swedes in Watain, who have established quite a reputation over the years, and possess in their third full studio album, Sworn to the Dark, a forceful candidate for true universal acclaim. Read More >>


Witchcraft - Alchemist
Black Sabbath is rightfully considered a trailblazer of the doom metal genre. But the next group in line to carry the doom torch was Pentagram, a U.S. band well versed in their Ozzy and Iommi-isms. While Pentagram never scaled the heights that the Sabs did, they certainly left their mark on countless subsequent bands throughout the world -- especially Sweden's Witchcraft. On their third release overall, 2007's The Alchemist, the quartet continues attempting to turn the clock back to 1975 -- Magnus Pelander's vocal delivery is an awful lot like Pentagram's Bobby Liebling, while the music would provide a fine soundtrack to a high school stoner's basement party -- when the folks were out of town, the bong smoke was thick, and the black light posters were proudly on display. Read More >>