(We’re winding down our 2012 Listmania series, but we still have a few we’re excited to bring you.  This one comes from our fellow blogger Eric Yanyo, a/k/a Valley of Steel.)

So here we are, nearly two weeks into 2013 (how the hell did that happen??), and by now I’m sure all of you have completely forgotten about 2012 and all of the year-end “listmania” stuff, right? Well, could I possibly interest you in one more? Maybe?

It’s been a really busy time for me, as I’ve been getting involved with a number of new projects — plus I compiled my own huge collection of year-end lists: check out a whole slew of them here, featuring a whole bunch of Pittsburgh-area musicians and music scene luminaries, talking about their favorite albums or shows or whatever from last year.

Anyway, my own list of my favorite 2012 releases has been pretty much put together inside my head for a while, but it’s been a struggle with a variety of other priorities just to find the time to get this in writing. But finally, here we go.

Continue reading »

(Here’s the third part of TheMadIsraeli’s multi-part rollout of his list of 2012′s best metal. Sample songs are at the end of the post. And you can find the first 10 albums on his list here and here. Despite the numbering, the albums are presented in no particular order.)

The ol’ reliables.  I’m pretty sure even if you don’t agree with these albums being the top of the top, we all knew they were going to be good.  The bands in this part of the list have established catalogues  showcasing a consistent excellency throughout.  Without further ado…  Also, the list is getting bumped up to top 21.

11: Meshuggah – Koloss

I was SO psyched for this album it isn’t even funny.  I’ll admit, I had trepidations concerning how the djent fad had taken off.  I worried maybe this would in turn psychologically effect my perception of Meshuggah’s music in hindsight, but in fact it did not.  Meshuggah proved they are still at the top of their game here, bringing in an album that combined elements of all their eras while creating their most varied release to date.  It doesn’t matter whether it is the atmospheric and tribal nature of “I Am Colossus”, the balls to the wall thrash attack of “The Hurt That Finds You First”, or the oddly adventurous doomy territory of “Behind The Sun”, this band know they are the owners, the masters, and the creators of their craft.  No amount of 8-string-toting core bros will ever impose on that. Continue reading »

(In this guest post, NCS reader deckard cain, who hails from India, provides a list of six overlooked albums from 2012 that he recommends.)

Ah yes another best of 2012 list eh? Well not exactly. On the contrary, this is something a tad different. I have a gripe with most other ‘best of 2012’ lists out there, and I am pretty sure that most of you here agree to it as well (NCS is the only site where it is different ). More times than not we have the same bands making their way onto different lists, and it definitely has been getting redundant. NCS has managed to have the best lists on any site by a mile, but for the most of part I tend to ignore most of the other lists out there, for a single quick sweep over everything listed makes you realize that it is more of the same. And trust me, I’ve been through almost every list out there. You can’t really blame the makers of the lists since a ‘best of’ list has its limitations.  Yet I would like to point out a few good releases that deserve to be heard. So let’s start with it already:

1.     Deserted Fear – My Empire

The German band Deserted Fear play old school death metal with a distinctively modern sound (courtesy of Dan Swanö), by which I mean the production is smooth as crystal and yet does not seem to compromise the trademarked organic sound that defines the genre.

Released by FDA Rekotz, their debut album My Empire is a galloping horse which shall trample over anything and everything in its path.  With melody brought in only at precisely the right moments, this album is an aural onslaught. Yes, the band is not groundbreaking by any means, in fact they don’t even go beyond the self-limiting OSDM mold, but they still pack in a good punch of tunes to keep the listener interested. Continue reading »

(Here’s the second part of TheMadIsraeli’s multi-part rollout of his list of 2012′s best metal. Sample songs are at the end of the post. And you can find the first 5 albums on his list here. Despite the numbering, the albums are presented in no particular order.)

Alright, here is the tonnage of br00tz edition of my top 20 of 2012.  This might seem short compared to the previous part of this list, but really, death metal is either really fucking brutal, technical, and memorable all at the same time, hence making it good, or it’s not, am I not right?  Let’s get this underway eh?

6: Cryptopsy – S/T

Not only did Cryptopsy manage to prove that the Cryptopsy name still had life left in it, but Jon Lavessuer also came back and helped the band write one of their best since None So Vile.  It’s a mangled, twisted, bloody stump that beats your skull in mercilessly from second one onward.  Definitely an undeniable win. Continue reading »

(In this, the longest post we’ve yet had the temerity to publish, DGR provides many 2012 lists, several awards, and assorted musings about the year in metal.)

This list initially started as something of an archive of my time spent at NoCleanSinging this year, since I was over at another site when I began writing it. I wanted to archive all the stuff that I thought that you guys would be into, so it started as a list of all the great death metal and doom metal I listened to throughout the year – plus a list of disappointments, so I could say it was “DDD” and make a whole bunch of boob jokes throughout the whole thing in order to highlight the sheer level of class with which we conduct ourselves here.

Well, things change…and now I’ve sat my fat ass down here with a full list. That, and due to the fact that there’s so much music I want to talk about this year, I feel that by separating the albums into genres that I enjoyed and explored this year, I can at least show that there was a ton more great music than just the scant ten that we limit ourselves to throughout the year. Some of these may pop up again in the actual Top Ten list you’ll find at the end of this post, but know that a lot more of them would’ve been there had I not enjoyed myself so much throughout the year.

I’ve patterned this after the list I did last year where I not only provided the actual top albums that I enjoyed but categorized a bunch of others, because I am so goddamned wishy-washy that I can’t fathom trying to name just ten. 2012 was a weird year, too, because it seemed like it was going to be slow in the beginning, but then every album that was released seemed to be just killing it. New bands, established bands, pretty much everyone with the exception of the usual garbage and a couple of bands that “Disappointed” me (underwhelmed, more like) were absolutely killing it. Because of that, this list became something more of a 2012 year in review with a Top 10 albums for myself and a whoooooole lotta bullshit to fill the space between. Continue reading »