Fellas. Ladies. Enbies. Y'all're fuckin' wild.
Welcome back once again to the year-end event where we throw down to decide the best albums of the year! We have once again continued the upwards trajectory we've been on since the start, breaking both the voting records for the fifth consecutive year. This year we had 225 total eligible ballots cast for 770 individual albums! This is the most amount of ballots we've ever gotten, and the most individual albums voted for in a year end poll (the mid year polls tend to wipe the floor with those numbers simply due to having much wider fields of eligibility). You guys came to play, and I'll save my rambling bullshit for the end because I know what you're here for. This is!
ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2021
***DISCLAIMER*** As of right now, I'm only putting the vote placements for the top ten and will edit the rest in later. This is purely being done to save time because I've already kept the results from you guys a day longer than I'd prefer and I'd rather not spend hours and hours inputting like twelve thousand dashes and zeroes and equal signs right now. I will come back and get it all added as usual within a day or two (unless literally nobody cares) and you have my Scout's Honor that everything will be placed correctly and accurately, but the actual proof is just gonna have to wait. This is just a side effect of the polls getting so damn popular and me foolishly trying to continue running it all myself. In fact, I don't know why I never thought to do this before but here is the read-only link to the whole damn spreadsheet itself. Have at it!
- The Ruins Of Beverast - The Thule Grimoires: 8-3-6-3-4-1-0-0-0-3 = 416pts
- Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst: 7-2-3-1-3-6-3-4-3-4 = 390pts
- Iron Maiden - Senjutsu: 10-3-2-2-1-0-2-0-2-4 = 388pts
- Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime: 3-7-2-1-4-3-2-3-2-1 = 336pts
- Hooded Menace - The Tritonous Bell: 4-2-4-4-3-3-3-2-1-4 = 330pts
- Carcass - Torn Arteries: 4-4-3-0-4-3-4-1-2-2 = 315pts
- Helloween - Helloween: 4-2-4-3-1-2-3-4-2-6 = 302pts
- Archspire - Bleed the Future: 5-4-2-2-1-0-2-1-2-3 = 284pts
- Pharaoh - The Powers That Be: 5-2-1-1-4-2-1-4-3-0 = 272pts
- Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning: 4-0-5-3-1-1-1-1-1-2 = 243pts Craven Idol - Forked Tongues: 223pts
- Worm - Foreverglade: 221pts
- Unto Others - Strength: 219pts
- Tribulation - Where the Gloom Becomes Sound: 218pts
- 1914 - Where Fear and Weapons Meet: 215pts
- Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse: 209pts
- Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm: 195pts
- Steel Bearing Hand - Slay in Hell: 194pts
- Enforced - Kill Grid: 192pts
- Cannibal Corpse - Violence Unimagined: 190pts
- Ethereal Shroud - Trisagion: 182pts
- Thy Catafalque - Vadak: 181pts
- Panopticon - ...and Again into the Light: 181pts
- Herzel - Le Dernier Rempart: 176pts
- Demoniac - So It Goes: 170pts
- Iotunn - Access All Worlds: 162pts
- Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman: 162pts
- Darkthrone - Eternal Hails.....: 153pts
- Nekromantheon – The Visions of Trismegistos: 146pts
- Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana: 145pts
- Tower - Shock to the System: 131pts
- Dordedah - Har: 130pts
- Be'lakor - Coherence: 124pts
- Stargazer - Psychic Secretions: 122pts
- Antediluvian - The Divine Punishment: 121pts
- Mastodon - Hushed and Grim: 119pts
- Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon: 119pts
- Mortiferum - Preserved in Torment: 116pts
- Fluisteraars - Gegrepen Door de Geest der Zielsontluiking: 116pts
- Bewitcher - Cursed Be Thy Kingdom: 114pts
- Cradle of Filth - Existence is Futile: 112pts
- Obscura - A Valediction: 98pts
- Funeral Mist - Deiform: 94pts
- Cryptosis - Bionic Swarm: 94pts
- Kenn Nardi - Trauma: 93pts
- Mystic Storm - From the Ancient Chaos: 91pts
- Exodus - Persona Non Grata: 89pts
- First Fragment - Gloire Éternelle: 85pts
- Malignant Altar - Realms of Exquisite Morbidity: 84pts
- Morgul Blade - Fell Sorcery Abounds: 84pts
- Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû - Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû: 82pts
- Kauan - Ice Fleet: 82pts
- Evergrey - Escape of the Phoenix: 82pts
- Mefitis - Offscourings: 81pts
- Skepticism - Companion: 80pts
- Asphyx - Necroceros: 79pts
- Black Soul Horde – Horrors From The Void: 77pts
- Wheel - Preserved in Time: 77pts
- Dream Unending - Tide Turns Eternal: 77pts
- Heavy Sentence - Bang to Rights: 76pts
- Archgoat - Worship The Eternal Darkness: 76pts
- Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Noktvrn: 74pts
- Eternity's End - Embers of War: 73pts
- Frozen Soul - Crypt of Ice: 72pts
- Voices - Breaking the Trauma Bond: 71pts
- Gojira - Fortitude: 71pts
- Blazon Stone - Damnation: 69pts
- Kanonenfieber - Menschenmühle: 68pts
- Mystras - Empires Vanquished and Dismantled: 67pts
- Silver Talon - Decadence & Decay: 67pts
- Diskord - Degenrations: 66pts
- Crystal Viper - The Cult: 65pts
- Alda - A Distant Fire: 65pts
- Ningen-Isu – Kuraku: 64pts
- Epica - Omega: 64pts
- Atvm - Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless: 63pts
- Thulcandra - A Dying Wish: 63pts
- Dvne - Etemen Ænka: 62pts
- Dream Theater - A View from the Top of the World: 61pts
- Seth - La morsure du Christ: 61pts
- Djevel - Tanker som rir natten: 60pts
- Crypta - Echoes of the Soul: 59pts
- Cynic - Ascension Codes: 59pts
- Ænigmatum - Deconsecrate: 59pts
- Paranorm - Empyrean: 59pts
- Harakiri For The Sky - Mære: 57pts
- Seven Sisters - Shadow of a Fallen Star, Pt. 1: 55pts
- Ungfell - Es Grauet: 55pts
- Demiser - Through the Gate Eternal: 55pts
- Duskmourn - Fallen Kings and Broken Crowns: 55pts
- Swallow the Sun - Moonflowers: 55pts
- Ophidian I - Desolate: 54pts
- Spectral Lore - Ετερόφωτος: 54pts
- Orden Ogan – Final Days: 53pts
- Rage - Resurrection Day: 53pts
- At the Gates - The Nightmare of Being: 52pts
- Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia: 52pts
- King Woman - Celestial Blues: 52pts
- Tales of Medusa - Antiquity: 52pts
- Рожь - Вечное: 51pts
- Veilburner - Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull: 51pts
- Empyrium - Über den Sternen: 51pts
- Concrete Winds - Nerve Butcherer: 51pts
- Rivers of Nihil - The Work: 51pts
- Plebeian Grandstand - Rien ne suffit: 50pts
- Haunt - Beautiful Distraction: 50pts
- Seven Spires - Gods of Debauchery: 49pts
- Khemmis - Deceiver: 49pts
- Inferno - Paradeigma: 49pts
- Beast in Black - Dark Connection: 48pts
- Deafheaven - Infinite Granite: 48pts
- Hanging Garden - Skeleton Lake: 48pts
- Portrait - At One with None: 48pts
- Leprous - Aphelion: 48pts
- Forhist - Forhist: 48pts
- Blaze Bayley - War Within Me: 48pts
- Vreid - Wild North West: 47pts
- Akhenaten - The Emerald Tablets Of Thoth: 47pts
- Stortregn - Impermanence: 47pts
- Aquilus - Bellum I: 47pts
- Grave Miasma - Abyss of Wrathful Deities: 46pts
- Yoth Iria - As the Flame Withers: 46pts
- Tyrannic - Mortuus Decadence: 45pts
- Dungeon Serpent - World of Sorrows: 45pts
- Bonehunter - Dark Blood Reincarnation System: 45pts
- Phrenelith - Chimaera: 45pts
- Ferriterium - Calvaire: 44pts
- Belore - Artefacts: 43pts
- Seputus - Phantom Indigo: 43pts
- Unanimated - Victory in Blood: 43pts
- The Night Flight Orchestra - Aeromantic II: 43pts
- Flotsam and Jetsam - Blood in the Water: 43pts
- Caverne - La fin de tous les chants: 43pts
- Aorlhac - Pierres brûlées: 42pts
- Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality: 42pts
- Lantlos - Wildhund: 42pts
- Sanguisugabogg - Tortured Whole: 41pts
- Crescent - Carving the Fires of Akhet: 41pts
- Dold Vorde Ens Navn - Mørkere: 41pts
- Tardigrada - Vom Bruch bis zur Freiheit: 41pts
- Impaled Nazarene - Eight Headed Serpent: 41pts
- Labyrinth - Welcome to the Absurd Circus: 40pts
- Cult of Eibon - Black Flame Dominion: 40pts
- Alustrium - A Monument to Silence: 39pts
- Antichrist Siege Machine - Purifying Blade: 39pts
- Cân Bardd - Devoured by the Oak: 39pts
- Esoctrilihum - Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath: 38pts
- Aeon - God Ends Here: 38pts
- Peste Noire - Le retour des pastoureaux: 38pts
- Diablo Swing Orchestra - Swagger & Stroll Down the Rabbit Hole: 37pts
- Kayo Dot - Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike: 37pts
- Iskandr - Vergezicht: 37pts
- Eyehategod - A History of Nomadic Behavior: 37pts
- Year of No Light - Consolamentum: 37pts
- Gloosh - Sylvan Coven: 37pts
- Whoredom Rife - Winds of Wrath: 37pts
- Chainsword - Blightmarch: 36pts
- Havukruunu- Kuu Erkylän Yllä: 36pts
- Therion - Leviathan: 36pts
- The Night Eternal - Moonlit Cross: 36pts
- Necromantia - To the Depths We Descend...: 35pts
- Omnium Gatherum - Origin: 34pts
- The Crown - Royal Destroyer: 34pts
- Lamp of Murmuur - Submission and Slavery: 34pts
- Koldovstvo - Ни царя, ни бога: 34pts
- Dream Troll - Realm of the Tormentor: 34pts
- Oxygen Destroyer - Sinister Monstrosities yadda yadda: 33pts
- Abysmal Grief - Funeral Cult of Personality: 33pts
- Force of Darkness - Twilight of Dark Illumination: 33pts
- Durbin - The Beast Awakens: 33pts
- Mental Cruelty - A Hill to Die Upon: 33pts
- Acid Age - Semper Pessimus: 33pts
- Wode - Burn in Many Mirrors: 33pts
- Witchseeker - Scene of the Wild: 33pts
- Anatomia - Corporeal Torment: 33pts
- Primeval Well - Talking in Tongues with Mountain Spirits: 33pts
- Dormant Ordeal - The Grand Scheme Of Things: 32pts
- Mānbryne - Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy: 32pts
- Accept - Too Mean to Die: 32pts
- Warrior Path - The Mad King: 32pts
- Dread Sovereign - Alchemical Warfare: 32pts
- Korpiklaani - Jylhä: 31pts
- Kvadrat - Ψυχική Αποσύνθεση
- Throne - Pestilent Dawn: 31pts
- Siderean - Lost on Void's Horizon: 31pts
- Coronary - Sinbad: 31pts
- Ergholae Somptator - Mille vertiges fondent sur les âmes vides: 30pts
- Fyrnask - VII: Kenoma: 30pts
- Circle of Ouroborus - Kiromantia: 30pts
- Monolord - Your Time to Shine: 30pts
- Grima - Rotting Garden: 30pts
- Full of Hell - Garden of Burning Apparitions: 29pts
- Malignament - Hypocrisis Absolution: 29pts
- In Mourning - The Bleeding Veil: 29pts
- Old Nick - A New Generation Of Vampiric Conspiracies: 29pts
- Inferi - Vile Genesis: 29pts
- Evil - Possessed by Evil: 29pts
- Insania - V (Praeparatus Supervivet): 28pts
- Morgal - Nightmare Realm: 28pts
- Cathartic Demise - In Absence: 28pts
- Nordjevel- Fenriir: 28pts
- Powerwolf - Call of the Wild: 28pts
- Aara - Triade I: Eos: 28pts
- Fortress - Don't Spare the Wicked: 28pts
- Aephanemer - A Dream of Wilderness: 27pts
- Auld Ridge - Consanguineous Tales of Bloodshed and Treachery: 27pts
- Stone Healer - Conquistador: 27pts
- The Temple - The Temple: 27pts
- Green Lung - Black Harvest: 27pts
- Victory Over The Sun - Nowherer: 27pts
- Klabautamann - Numbered: 27pts
- Ildaruni - Beyond Unseen Gateways: 27pts
- Spelljammer - Abyssal Trip: 27pts
- Gabestok - En gang rådden, altid rådden: 27pts
- Obsolete - Animate//Isolate: 26pts
- Ustalost - Before The Glinting Spell Unvests: 26pts
- Hypocrisy - Worship: 26pts
- Blood Red Throne - Imperial Congregation: 26pts
- Helleruin - War upon Man: 26pts
- Nunslaughter - Red is the Color of Ripping Death: 26pts
- Transilvania – Of Sleep and Death: 26pts
- Shores of Ladon - Witterung: 26pts
- Bhleg - Ödhin: 26pts
- Leiþa - Sisyphus: 25pts
- Bornholm – Apotheosis: 25pts
- Bloodbound - Creatures of the Dark Realm: 25pts
- Witherfall - Curse of Autumn: 25pts
- Reveal! - Doppelherz: 25pts
- Our Place of Worship Is Silence - Disavowed, and Left Hopeless: 25pts
- Portal - Avow: 25pts
- Sanctuaire - Spectre de mondes passés: 24pts
- Pestilence - Exitivm: 24pts
- Venefixion - A Sign from Below: 24pts
- Vulture - Dealin' Death: 24pts
- Reinforcer – Prince of the Tribes: 24pts
- Claymorean - Eulogy For the Gods: 24pts
- Hitten - Triumph & Tragedy: 24pts
- Significant Point – Into the Storm: 24pts
- Brainstorm - Wall of Skulls: 23pts
- The Body - I've Seen All I Need To See: 23pts
- Blackdeath - Also Sprach das Chaos: 23pts
- Volbeat - Servant Of The Mind: 22pts
- Todd La Torre - Rejoice in the Suffering: 22pts
- Spire - Temple Of Khronos: 22pts
- Alluvial - Sarcoma: 22pts
- Wormwood – Arkivet: 22pts
- Windfaerer - Breaths of Elder Dawns: 22pts
- Untamed Land - Like Creatures Seeking Their Own Forms: 22pts
- Memory Garden - 1349: 22pts
- Dr. Colossus- I'm A Stupid Moron...: 22pts
- Dodsrit - Mortal Coil: 22pts
- Baxaxaxa - Catacomb Cult: 22pts
- Eisenhand - Fires Within
- Midnight Odyssey - Biolume Part 2: The Golden Orb: 21pts
- 200 Stab Wounds - Slave to the Scalpel: 21pts
- Metalite - A Virtual World: 21pts
- Ossaert - Pelgrimsoord: 21pts
- Mork - Katedralen: 21pts
- Vvilderness - As Above, So Below: 21pts
- Gatecreeper - An Unexpected Reality: 21pts
- DSKNT - Vacuum y-Noise Transition: 21pts
- Varmia - Bal lada: 21pts
- Apostle of Solitude - Until the Darkness Goes: 21pts
- Decline of the I - Johannes: 20pts
- Thyrfing - Vanagandr: 20pts
- Baest - Necro Sapiens: 20pts
- Hate - Rugia: 20pts
- Artillery - X: 20pts
- Hyperdontia - Hideous Entity: 20pts
- Fear Factory - Aggression Continuum: 20pts
- Warmoon Lord - Battlespells: 20pts
- Rituals of the Dead Hand - With Hoof and Horn: 20pts
- Code - Flyblown Prince: 20pts
- Cauldron Born - Legacy of Atlantean Kings: 20pts
- Morning Dwell - The Power Will Go On: 19pts
- Cave of Swimmers - Aurora: 19pts
- Fetid Zombie - Transmutations: 19pts
- Zornheym - The Zornheim Sleep Experiment: 19pts
- Lucifer - Lucifer IV: 19pts
- Eclipse - Wired: 19pts
- Moonspell - Hermitage: 18pts
- Cathexis - Untethered Abyss: 18pts
- Mega Colossus - Riptime: 18pts
- Dauþuz - Vom schwarzen Schmied: 18pts
- Waldgeflüster - Dahoam: 18pts
- Nervosa - Perpetual Chaos: 18pts
- Count Raven - The Sixth Storm: 18pts
- Altarage - Succumb: 18pts
- Ghosts of Atlantis - 3/6/2/4: 18pts
- Paydretz - Chroniques de l’insurrection: 18pts
- Black Mass - Feast From The Forbidden Tree: 18pts
- Running Wild - Blood on Blood: 17pts
- Knife - Knife: 17pts
- Sielunvihollinen - Teloituskäsky: 17pts
- Nature Morte - Messe Basse: 16pts
- Lvcifyre - The Broken Seal: 16pts
- Häxkapell - Eldhymner: 16pts
- Misotheist - For the Glory of Your Redeemer: 16pts
- Diabolizer - Khalkedonian Death: 16pts
- Starlight Ritual - Sealed In Starlight: 16pts
- Bunker 66 - Beyond the Help of Prayers: 16pts
- Human Serpent - Heirlooms Eternal: 16pts
- Celestial Sanctuary - Soul Diminished: 16pts
- Rapture - Malevolent Demise Incarnation: 15pts
- The Silver - Ward of Roses: 15pts
- Rhapsody of Fire - Glory for Salvation: 15pts
- Lucifer's Hammer - The Trip: 14pts
- The Lion’s Daughter – Skin Show: 14pts
- Crypts of Despair - All Light Swallowed: 14pts
- Kjeld - Ôfstan: 14pts
- The Flight of Sleipnir - Eventide: 14pts
- Conjureth - Majestic Dissolve: 14pts
- Cross Vault - As Strangers We Depart: 14pts
- Passeisme - Eminence: 14pts
- Cadaveric Fumes - Echoing Chambers of Soul: 13pts
- Serpent Column - Katartisis: 13pts
- Lovebites - Glory, Glory To The World: 13pts
- Stam1na - Novus Ordo Mundi: 13pts
- Alchemy of Flesh - Ageless Abominations: 13pts
- Project: Roenwolfe - Edge of Saturn: 13pts
- Funeral Chant - Dawn of Annihilation: 12pts
- Graveland - Hour of Ragnarok: 12pts
- Reverorum Ib Malacht - Svag I Döden: 12pts
- Existance - Wolf Attack: 12pts
- The Lurking Fear - Death, Madness, Horror, Decay: 12pts
- Deathfucker - Firespawn: 12pts
- Evile - Hell Unleashed: 12pts
- Vile Haint - Ol Hatchie Haint: 12pts
- Lunar Shadow - Wish to Leave: 12pts
- Dornenreich - Du wilde Liebe sei: 12pts
- Doctor Smoke - Dreamers and the Dead: 12pts
- Replicant - Malignant Reality: 12pts
- Stress Angel - Bursting Church: 12pts
- Lordi - Abracadaver: 11pts
- Morbific - Ominous Seep Of Putridity: 11pts
- U.D.O - Game Over: 11pts
- Wraith - Undo the Chains: 11pts
- Aborted - Maniacult: 10pts
- Kör - The Horns of Ylmir: 10pts
- Sagenland - Oale Groond: 10pts
- Fuath - II: 10pts
- Sacred Oath - Return of the Dragon: 9pts
- Hannes Grossmann - To Where the Light Retreats: 9pts
- Møl – Diorama: 9pts
- Vallendusk - Heralds of Strife: 8pts
- Northtale - Eternal Flame: 8pts
- Clouds - Despartire: 8pts
- Hulder - Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry: 8pts
- Imperialist - Zenith: 8pts
- Inhuman Condition - Rat°God: 8pts
- Wizardthrone – Hypercube Necrodimensions: 7pts
- Timo Tolkki's Avalon - The Enigma Birth: 6pts
- Alkonost - Vedomye Vetrom: 6pts
- Lynx - Watcher of Skies: 6pts
- Vertebra Atlantis - Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss: 5pts
- Wardrum - Mavericks: 5pts
- King of Asgard - Svartrviðr: 5pts
- Acid Mammoth - Caravan: 3pts
- Sijjin - Sumerian Promises: 3pts
- Ultra Raptor - Tyrants: 3pts
- Paladine - Entering The Abyss: 3pts
- Sarke - Allsighr: 3pts
- KK's Priest - Sermons of the Sinner: 3pts
- Paradox - Heresy II: End of a Legend: 3pts
- Wormwitch - Wolf Hex: 2pts
- Helslave - From The Sulphur Depths: 2pts
Wew fuckin' lad. Three hundred and sixty god damned four non-randos have been tallied and we have our definitive winner. The Ruins of Beverast has taken home the title in 2021 with their/his sixth full length, The Thule Grimoires. We didn't break a total points record for the winner this year (gonna be real tough to top Ulcerate's 526 last year) but we do have the highest overall point total for the top ten as a whole by a galactic longshot. Typically breaking 300 points nearly guarantees you a spot in the top two or three, but this year the top seven all broke that milestone, and you've gotta go down to #17 to get below 200. Part of this is simply because there were more ballots than ever this year, but I find TRoB's win all the more impressive because this means the field was really fuckin' tight this year, so whoever wound up winning was going to have to earn it via sheer teeth grinding attrition instead of the blowout victory we sometimes have. Meilenwald's cult black metal institution pulled it out over some incredibly stiff competition (and I believe the most diverse top ten yet) and I'm proud to give Beverast a sincere Congratulations on winning MA AOTY 2021!
And now for something completely the same, all those lonely souls who wound up with only one vote throughout the month. Great albums nonetheless, but still shuttled off to the side to make the list readable. I give you:
RANDO CORNER
Spoiler: show
I've decided to end the Debut of the Year tally this year, and the fact that only one person in the other thread expressed mild disappointment and only two ballots included a vote for it out of habit, I feel like I made the right choice in just saving myself the work. If you want to give accolades anyway, feel free to give it to Stormkeep, whose debut, Tales of Othertime landed all the way up at #4.
BH's Final Thoughts
Without a doubt this was the most intense month of polling we've ever done, breaking records left and right. As a result I'm completely exhausted (even skipping most of the extraneous data I usually include this still wound up taking like three hours to type up) but beyond please with how the community once again pulled together for this. I usually take this time to note two observations that usually hold true, but I think neither of them really do this year. Firstly I usually note how genres are split, with black metal saturating the fuck out of rando corner while thrash and power metal have comparatively way fewer representatives but tend to place higher on the list. Well, three of the top four, including the winner, are all black metal this year, so even if rando corner is still loaded with obscure raw BM demos I really can't say that fans of the genre didn't have obvious favorites this year. Power metal also nearly managed to pull out a massive underdog victory, since Helloween's self titled was actually keeping the #1 spot warm for almost the entire month, only falling to #2 early in the last week and eventually getting surpassed by several more during The Push that always happens on the final day. My other usual talking point pertains to how legacy bands always do extremely well, to the point where I get personally annoyed with how often old bands seem to get cookies simply for still existing and not releasing Illud. While there's an element of that here as always (it's no secret that I think modern Iron Maiden is terrible) I don't think it's as prevalent as I sometimes feel it is. Sure, the top ten includes Iron Maiden, Carcass, and Helloween, three bands that easily fit my criticism, but the winner is fuckin' Ruins of Beverast. Sure it's a cult classic project and an MA darling but it's nowhere near the level of historical significance and widespread notoriety as the aforementioned three. Darkthrone and Cannibal Corpse both missed the top twenty while much newer and more niche bands like Stormkeep, Ad Nauseam, and Worm beat them without much of a sweat. I think it's safe to say that my ageist bullshit is just that: alarmist bullshit.
I also feel like this could potentially be a very controversial top ten. TRoB is an MA Pet Band so their win isn't necessarily surprising (Exuvium was #3 in 2017 so they have a history of performing well), but Spectral Wound pulled second place despite demolishing the vote total by a wide margin. Spectral Wound placed on 36 ballots while TRoB only placed on 27. Stormkeep, Hooded Menace, Carcass, and Helloween all had equal or more total votes than the winner, but fell short due to placement of the votes themselves, and Iron Maiden had more #1 votes than anybody else but landed #3 overall. But hey, that's why I do the grand prix thing! It's more impressive to be considered "The Best" than "one of the best" as far as I'm concerned. That balance of consistency and excellence is hard to nail and that's why winning isn't easy. And while they didn't win, I'm sure we're gonna keep seeing some Discourse about Iron Maiden's incredibly strong showing considering how many pages of the other thread were spent arguing about whether they were being propped up by oldnoobs with no interest in the present and future of metal or if they were being unfairly shunned by kids and snobs who can't appreciate some classic Heavy Fucking Metal without pretentious modern trappings. Either way, I foresee complaints and slapfights over this top ten more than any previous year, and honestly, I'm here for it! Discussion is good and that's why we do this, because we all love and are passionate about this music.
And lastly, the booby prizes! As always we have the Rando Calrissian Award for "highest placement with no first place votes", which this year goes to Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman, likely the first time it has ever gone to a project I've literally never heard of before. I checked it out and I get the appeal, this type of super poetic/romantic/weepy black metal is pretty unique in the grand scheme of things so it's neat to see it do so well. There's also the Beltre Award for "hitting for the cycle", aka scoring at least one vote in all ten possible positions. This is much less impressive nowadays since we get more and more votes in total each year, but I'll keep tracking it and give special mentions to Spectral Wound, Stormkeep, Hooded Menace, Helloween, Worm, Steel Bearing Hand, and Thy Catafalque for all pulling it off this year. It's funny how this was a big deal after nobody managing the feat for the first three years, and now seven god damned albums pulled it off at once. Oh well, might have to stop keeping track of that one if it keeps trending this way.
Lastly, this means nothing, but at one point during the voting period the top four were Spectral Wound, Helloween, Iron Maiden, and The Ruins of Beverast. Part of me was really hoping that would hold just so the top four could be anagram'd as SHIT.
Thank you all so much for another phenomenal year! Let us now use this thread for discussion, list sharing, and calling me an asshole. This was a ton of fun as usual and I'm glad we pulled it together for the sixth year in a row, even if I did miss posting on the 1st for the first time.
Also be sure to tell me where I fucked up in Rando Corner because I always, always do!
HALL OF FAME
Spoiler: show
Lair of the Bastard: LATEST REVIEW: Lovebites - Judgment Day
The Outer RIM - Uatism: The dogs bark in street slang
niix wrote:
the reason your grandmother has all those plastic sheets on her furniture is because she is probably asquirter