Your opinion means a lot to me. I forgot just how relevant it is. Please tell me more.

The anemone, or Clematis plant's juice can cause a rash. When pruning them, it's a good idea to wear gloves.

Fact =\= opinion

Moving on, From this year I've also really enjoyed the Occultation & new COC albums.

<3

EDIT: I suppose I should stay relevant. I tried out that Dragony album that was being picked on in the FFA and it's really dull, as is Gormenghast's album. The thing about Gormenghast is that I saw the name on a download site and recognized it, so I just got it in case it might be good. Then I look it up and see it's the band's only release and no other bands have that name. How the hell did I recognize that name?

Also new High on Fire. I didn't remember much of it but I think I'm overwhelming myself. Too much new stuff at once, I've gotta let some of this sink in before trying anything new I reckon.

Yeah, Three & Seven is pretty good. Can't wait to see them live in august.

The new Unleashed may very well be superior to the new Cannibal corpse, the choruses for the first four songs are intense and the riffs overall match CC muscle to muscle. I have to spin it again but the new Cannibal really has fallen off the radar especially with the new Unleashed and Dying Fetus.

I'm having a hard time finding their tour dates. Do you have a list or a link?

I'm really loving the new Gojira.

Rush - Clockwork Angels. This is my album of the year so far. Fucking Rush man. They've still got it!

I still need to hear Clockwork Angels, I haven't taken the time for it yet. I'm sure that I'll love it as I love Rush's most recent works the most.

Crystal Vipers Crimen Excepta was fucking awesome from beginning to end

5 albums released in 2012 that I've been listening to since their release.

Ne Obliviscaris - The Portal Of I
Royal Thunder - CVI
Desultor - Masters of Hate
Devour the Unborn - Consuming the Morgue Remains
Hour of Penance - Sedition

Personally find Nile's latest offering abit dull. It lacks something that "Those Whom The Gods Detest" had.
Zombiekrig's latest black/thrash, or perhaps black n roll is very entertaining as well

New Witchrist destroys all your shit. Still waiting on that Wrathprayer LP to come in...

Definitely waiting for it on cd as well.

Time for a big post since it's the middle of the year. I'm doing it a little bit early due to computer issues making it unlikely I'll be able make a post this long when the end of the month finally comes around, it's all pretty self explanatory. 2012 got off to a slow start, I didn't even find anything worth putting on a best of list til mid March, but since then there has been a nice enough flow of great releases popping up on my radar. Still not as good of a start as 2012 was overall, but good enough. I've got a top 10 after 6 months, which is something that doesn't happen often. I will say that the absolutely top tier stuff which was lacking last year (Other than Esoteric) is here which is a good thing though. I'm a bit surprised that death metal is doing as it well as it is, the last couple of years the whole OSDM thing has been feeling like it's run it's course and only really gives two or three rippers per year, as of right now there's already been several excellent death metal albums, with bands like Hour of Penance, Cattle Decapitation, Allegaeon, Desultor, Shroud of the Heretic, Asphyx and Aborted only a short ways beneath being good enough for my list, HoP probably only missing out because of some personal arrogance towards to the style and sound and the similarity to the albums prior to it. Sadly nothing is really giving that "Wow I've never heard this before!" vibe, like Mitochondrion did last year, but hey, the top three here are all worth 94%+ in my eyes, so why fix what ain't broke.

Best

10. Candlemass - Psalms For the Dead
A huge improvement of the boring DMD, has a lot more, how can I put it, "tasteful cheese", in the form of power metal vibes, silly castle theme keyboards, overzealous soloing, silly poetry etc, which actually give the whole thing a bit of charm and flair to the doomy affair. Doesn't pack the same weighty wallop of KotGI, and still has the lame lyrics of DMD, so it isn't their best Lowe album, but it's very good and solid all the way through which is something that I can't say about KotGI even.

9. Acephalix - Deathless Master
In some ways I am a very simple man, and Acephalix proves that because holy shit I love this when it's going. This is pretty straight forward OSDM with nice thick crunchy riffs with a slight punky twist and excellent distant echoing vocals, all driven into the realm of magnificence by simply slamming a shit load of D beats under it. Vomitory do it, Bastard Priest do it, these guys do it but probably function on a slightly higher level than those guys with a few really cool Finn-styled leads and a bit more of a morbid atmosphere rather than just being headbangable as fuck like those bands. But for all that, this is one the best albums I've heard this year because it's headbangable as fuck. One issue that has shown up after a couple of months of listening is that there isn't really enough crust here, that is by far the bands biggest draw card, and things get a little bit too in line with traditional styled death metal through the middle.

8. Pseudogod - deathwomb Catechesis
Simple minded, one dimensional, uninventive, all true statements, but who fucking cares because this has to be close the most destructive thing ever made. Much like Blasphemophagher's take on war metal, these guys take high speed black/death (while there are some war metal elements, it doesn't go that far) and ignore the whole "should be raw" thing, and give it the most massively violent sound you can imagine, topped off with the densest most dominating vocal production I've ever heard. I genuinely can't say that these guys have really done too much new or amazing with their music in terms of notes played or songs written, but the sound is perfect and this is just too dominant not to praise.

7. Embrional - Absolutely Anti-Human Behavior.
Old school, occassionally brutal, occassionally techy, occassionally trem based, always fun as hell death metal with a good production which I find is a nice balance between OSDM and the new, mostly in the vein of Immolation while still being mixed up enough to be derivative. This isn't as muddy as the old stuff or a lot of small label new OSDM bands, but doesn't lose any balls or death metal cred from it's increased listenablity.

6. Mgla - With Hearts Toward None
This has a very simple formula of tremolo riffs with some nice big melodic hooks engrained in them over mid tempo drum work and good lower ranged vocals in the style of Mikko Aspa of DsO, but it works very nicely. Not particularly forward thinking, but the open and clear production makes this sound like more than just an early 90's rehash. The first song doesn't have the nice big melodic hook though, it's just mid paced trem riffs and plodding drum work and is really the main blemish of this one.

5. Dodecahedron - Dodecahedron
Not as good as many of the albums on the list overall, but the last four tracks make this one worth a spot praising it specifically. Basically this starts out as one of the more overt later DsO worship albums around, lots of disonnance, low register vocals, jangly sort of stuff interspersed by super fast hectic technical black metal. It's competent, not as good as the original, but it's a bit more direct and will hold attention a little better than some of DsO's lumbering compositions, but overall, not overly important stuff, then comes Descending Jacob's Ladder, a horrific interlude type track which nails a level of terror and nastiness that is pretty much unmatched in the stlye. This is followed by the three part View from Hverfell which is more melodic, while still retaining that DsO sort of production and a bit of the weirdness, but the way it is presented is wholely unique. It's this last half hour that makes Decahedron's debut something that cannot be missed, pity about the derivitive start.

4. Anhedonist - Netherwards
Heavy as hell death/doom with excellent slabs of death metal and mellower atmosphere to break up the crushing misery. The doom is most reminicent of Ophis, diSEMBOWELMENT, and a sped up Ahab, the atmospherics are pretty much Ahab through and through, and the death metal is similar to Disma and again, diSEMBOWELMENT. Stupid heavy, great riffs, solid vocal work, it's a gem.

3. Pharaoh - Bury the Light
Excellent power metal, which I guess I'd put in the same kind of boat as the last Charred Walls of the Damned album, it has enough really heavy and really fast parts to keep this from being flowery and keep me entertained, but in the end it's the quality of the gruff yet epic vocals of Aymar, the extremely intricate guitar work in every riff, and the magnificent hooks and melodies that really make this album a winner.

2. Undergang - Til Døden os Skiller
Backing up the high speed excellence of my number one pick is Denmark's Undergang bringing us, in both the most simple and most complex way possible of putting it, the most stupidly crushing mid paced DM you can imagine. Like Slugathor these guys are sheer weight incarnate, but this is more old school in sound and riffing style overall than that band. It's heavy as shit, it's riffy as hell, that's as much detail as I can really give.

1. Ignivomous - Contragensis
Anyone who has heard these guys' debut or demos would be aware of the riffing chops these guys have, and the new album certainly lives up to it's predecessor in that regard. Again, it's very much fast Incantation with less and shorter slow parts, but the quality of the riffs and the sheer viciousness of the constant high speed swirling blast beating assault all come together to make this stand out from the other bands which don't throw much in the way originality at us from the modern OSDM scene. The production is a bit clearer and nicer on the ears than last time too, so that's another big plus. Riffs. Just riffs. All of them. Yes.

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Surprises

Abigail Williams - Becoming.
Notoriously shitty deathcore band becomes notoriously shitty Emperor worship band becomes surprisingly passable drawn out minimalist black metal band. Easy to listen to with nice sound and solid riffing.

Aborted - Global Flatline
I had only heard the last two borderline deathcore failures but this goes close to kicking ass, lots of energy, awesome soloing, as far as modern production goes a brilliant sound, lots of variation in music and vocals, but sadly it brings fuck all to the riffing department, with the guitars simply churning out masses of energetic but indescript dadadadadadada stuff. Cattle Decapitation kind of handed this thing it's ass in this sort of high speed, high production, yellow cover violent death metal thing though,

Ahab - The Giant
This is pretty much exactly what I had feared it would be, but I still quite like it. It's mostly soft, it's at least 80% cleans, even on a lot of the heavy stuff, said heavy stuff is brief when it does appear, but I like it. The melodies are suitably aquatic, and it's a fair bit less psychedelic and meandering than last time, mercifully giving these songs some sense of movement. Not a classic, but it's worthwhile.

Ea - Ea
I've never really cared for these guys outside of their excellent debut, but this effort is pretty damn solid. Doesn't live up to their one classic, but it is one of the stronger entries into the flailing funeral doom genre this year. There is a surprise in the middle with is pretty unexpected for this band, and is a welcome touch.

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Disappointments

Alcest - Les Voyages De L'Âme
Boring as watching grass grow. None of the overt hookiness of the previous album, and lacks the simple childish beauty of the first, this just twangs away on a loose chord over and over while pedophiles hum sweetly over it. Very freaking boring and devoid of substance.

The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet
TMV are extremely hit and miss for me, with the debut and last albums being the only albums I've really liked, but both of those albums are among my favourite non-metal albums, so I was eager to see what they did here. There are some ok songs on here like Dyslexicon, but some really, really horrible ones too. The most striking thing is that this album is probbaly the first one of their that just feels like a collection of songs rather than a cohesive album.

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As an extra aside, I'd like to draw attention to a couple of freaking excellent EP's put out thus far into the year. I don't usually put EP's (Or splits for that matter [Sorry Undergang, the brilliance of your split track can't make up for a disappointing Funebrarum one and a 10 minute run tome])into my end of year lists simply due to the usual lack of length to them, but a couple have been put on there if they were 10 minutes longer. Inverloch and Deathspell Omega's EP's are both fantastic, Inverloch obviously sound like diSEMBOWELMENT and the music offered up is absolutely stunning. There is like 4 minutes of absolute silence in that 21 minute run time though. DsO pretty much shit all over everything I praised Dodecahedron for, it's songy, it doesn't meander, it's got some fresh melody, and most importantly it's musically brilliant. Check them both out if you haven't.

Well that's the first half of 2012 in my eyes, pretty damn fantastic, probably not quite as good as 2011 just yet, due to that year simply having a higher number of great releases, while a larger portion of this year is more "good" or "passable", not too many total duds. Currently the total breakdown of albums I've heard is: 10 worthy of being on the list, 18 quite good, 13 get a passing mark, and 17 I actively dislike to hate. Not a bad ratio by my standards to be honest.

Good post, l_g. I still need to listen to the new Undergang album, as the only recent stuff of theirs I've listened to was the song they did on their split with Funebrarum. I also need to spin that new Ignivomous more, only listened to it once so all I remember from it was there were lots of riffs, haha. I also agree about the new Unleashed album being a beast. My copy should finally be arriving in the mail today along with Hammer Battalion, which I had previously skipped over.

I've listened to a lot more grindcore and hardcore than metal so far this year, and I'm starting to go back and check out what I missed. Seems this year has been pretty good to fans of all styles.

@ lord_ghengis: I agree with all of those except Candlemass, which so far fails to do anything for me, and Alcest, which, while not really being a really good album, was acceptable. Though paling in comparison to the wonders that Ecailles de lune contained.

Wrathprayer - "The Sun of Moloch: The Sublimation of Sulphur's Essence Which Spawned Death and Life"

possibly a contender for best release in 2012...

still waiting for a digital release...

wish i had a vinyl player

Only two albums from this year I completely listened to are
Terrorizer: Hordes of Zombies
Occultation: Three & Seven

The last one was great though. Have to thank Fenriz.

Pact-The Dragon lineage of Satan
Aborted-Global Flatline
Abigail Williams-Becoming
Hellsaw-Trist
Wretched-Son of Perdition
Kreator-Phantom Antichrist
Eluveitie-Helvetios
Dyscarnate-And so it Came to Pass
Bloodshot Dawn-Bloodshot Dawn
Ne Obliviscaris-Portal of I
Impiety-Ravage and Conquer
Hour of Penance-Sedition

Amazing year so far. Cannibal, Cattle Decapitation, and Dying Fetus have all far exceeded my expectations. And 3 more days til Nile and Deathspell Omega on the same day, holy shit. So those would be my top 5 so far

hmm, interesting. Netherwards is my favorite release of the year so far, but as many times as i've listened to it, i never once thought of Ahab and i love Ahab, even their newest one The Giant.

anyway, i'm currently listening to the new Wrathprayer, only a couple songs in but it sounds killer so far.

The Greatest of all lies is one of my favorite death metal songs, the album isn't much different from their newest one though as with all Unleashed albums-there is a bit of filler.

New Sabaton was awsome, probably their best album imo, really like the swedish version of it (even though i can understand the lyrics), it just has a more natural feel to it.

Nightmare's The Burden of God is a big step up from the incredibly inconsistent last album. Reminds me of Tad Morose - Modus Vivendi in places, if that album had thicker guitars and a pissed off Dio on vocals. Great darker PM. My favorite tracks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bJB2qPboRA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfU-4iMQ6xw

Digging the cool guitar tone and ace, intricate riff/lead work on here.

Just listened through "Weder Licht Noch Schatten" by Verdunkeln.
It's more of the same and that's just as it should be. Really liking it so far.

I may have posted this here before, but if so, it begs repeating. The new Furze album is really good. But I like all his albums, so... no big surprise there.
Digging the new Martyrdöd as well.

Rush´s Clocwork Angels is some of the best rock ive heard in years...10 out of 10 for sure.
They sound so fresh and young. Complex,original and catchy songs.

i really liked Drudkh latest album, they returned to their roots with the usual quality. Maybe not as good as their first works but still an awesome record.


Tantara´s debut Based on Evil is straight thrash metal full of potential.Really surprised me.

so far
candlemass- psalms for the dead and kreator- phantom antichrist. but alot of the albums i have been looking forward to are coming out this month so their should be quite a few more added to the list, and hoping that the year gets topped off by wintersuns return but im not holding my breath i went through this with chinese democracy lol

Panopticon's Kentucky was fucking great. Checked it out impulse and completely out of nowhere but I'm glad I did. New Deathspell EP is great too. Love the Earth-esque intro track.

Dying Fetus - Reign Supreme
Napalm Death - Utilitarian

Currently awaiting for the new Testament, may be 2012's finest based on the preview of "True American Hate".

I really, really, REALLY like Dying Fetus' Reign Supreme. That was a big surprise for me since I was never big into their music. I definitely wanna check out their other albums after listening to this beast of an album.

I also am big into Gojira's L'Enfant Sauvage. So many cool riffs... I feel like it's similar to Mastodon's The Hunter as far as song variety goes.

The Adversarial/Antediluvian split LP is one of the most crushing releases I've heard all year. Just some extremely chaotic, well executed death metal that doesn't really sound like anything else out there, though Mitochondrion might be the closest point of reference. It's one of those releases which makes me want to buy a record player.

Edit: It will be out on cd in
but it's on bandcamp until then.

The new Nile was decent enough not different from their past work, the production was thin as heck though

New Verdunkeln? I had no idea. Me want.

That is easily the best description anything has ever had, if this isn't half as awesome as you make it sound Emp, I will come to your country and punch you.

Really? I'm pretty sure I could have made it sound better if I wanted.

Tad Morose + thick guitars + pissed off Dio sounds pretty awesome. Those two songs were exactly half as good as you made it sound, so you remain unpunched.

Anyone listen to the new Desecresy album yet? If so, is it better than the first one? AoE was decent, but I was hoping for something a bit more, oh I don't know, awesome?