(In this third of NCS writer Andy Synn’s week-long series of year-end lists, he identifies a group of 2012 albums that were disappointments. To see his lists of the “Great” and the “Good”, go here and here.)

Well this is always the hardest one to write. You know we don’t like to be negative here at NCS. We rarely post about albums/bands we don’t like, and we always try to be constructive with any criticisms we do have.

But this is part of the yearly round-up, and it’s an acknowledgement that certain albums… just weren’t that good. Not terrible, just not meriting a description as ’Good’ without an unspoken “but…”

Now, to set the record straight, none of these albums is ‘Bad’. They’re just lacking something. Since there’s only a few this year (some previous ‘Disappointing’ bands have actually dropped so far in my estimation that there’s no longer even any point in pretending that they’ve let anyone down), I’ve gone into a little bit of detail about each. Not much, but enough to give you a sense of why they’re on THIS list, and not the ‘Good’ list.

Again – these aren’t ‘Bad’ albums. ‘Bad’ albums wouldn’t even get a mention. These are albums that were objectively (or as objectively as I can assess them) a disappointment. So try and keep the flaming comments to a minimum, eh? Continue reading »

As I assume everyone knows by now, our philosophy is not to crap on metal bands whose music sucks. Instead, we pretty much just ignore them. About the only exceptions are big, famous, wealthy, arrogant bands who just won’t shut the fuck up (I’m looking at you, Dave Mustaine and Axl Rose). But when it comes to just about everyone else, our philosophy is to stay positive and spend our time talking about music we like and want to recommend.

BUT, since we’re nearing the end of the year, other sites are making lists of the worst metal albums of 2012, and once again we’re featuring one of those lists here, to go along with all the “Best of 2012″ lists we’ve been posting. And once again, to get the conversation-started, we’re turning to Adrien Begrand’s column for MSN Entertainment.

MSN Entertainment is another one of what I’ve been calling “big platform” sites, i.e., websites that have huge amounts of traffic but cover metal as only one of dozens of interests. As in the case of other big-platform sites whose Best of 2012 lists I’ve been featuring, I’d be surprised if any of you visit MSN Entertainment to get guidance about good and bad metal. But Adrien Begrand knows his stuff and is worth reading.

So, after the jump, we’ll take a look at his list of the 10 Worst Metal Albums of 2012, and then we’ll open up the Comments for discussion. This year we don’t have world-class stinkers like Lulu and Illud Divinum Insanus, but I bet there have been some others you’ve been detesting almost as much. And if you thing Adrien was wrong-headed in including some of the albums on his own list, feel free to say so. He’s not here to defend himself. Continue reading »

(This is the second in NCS writer Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released in 2012.) 

Ok, so there’s a variety of releases on this list. And not just in terms of genre. The albums featured here range from ‘Good’ to ‘Very Good’, some of which teeter on the edge of greatness but which, for reasons I might just explain if you’re all on your best behaviour, didn’t quite make the cut for the list of the year’s Great albums.

Try not to blow a gasket if your favourite album is on the ‘Good’ list, rather than the ‘Great’ list – I’ve simply tried to be as objective and impartial as possible. The albums on this list (to paint a broad picture) simply had a few too many flaws, or were perhaps a tad lacking in ambition, to really reach the pinnacle of greatness.

Similarly don’t worry if there’s an album you don’t see on either of the two lists. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be on the ‘Disappointing’ list (though try and forgive me if they are). There’s only so much time in the day/week/month/year, so certain albums I either simply haven’t heard yet (Nachtmystium, Antestor, for example) or haven’t listened to enough to form a reasonable opinion.

After the jump… all the ‘Good’ albums from this year of manic metal. Continue reading »

(This is the first in NCS writer Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released in 2012.) 

Ok, you should know how this works by now, but for those of you who are new and/or of a forgetful nature, here goes:

Over the course of this week I’ll be producing a series of columns rounding up the year. The first deals with the objectively ‘Great’ albums, the next will feature those of a ‘Good’ (or ‘Very Good’) nature that don’t quite manage to reach the high peaks of greatness, and finally you’ll be getting a flame-retardant piece featuring the most ‘Disappointing’ records released this year. Here’s a quick warning though – there are some BIG albums on there. Apologies in advance for any offence caused.

The last two columns will finalise my ‘Critical Top 10’ and ‘Personal Top 10’ albums of the year – the first will be the 10 albums I think are objectively ‘the best’ of the year, the ones I would put in a time capsule and preserve as a perfect representation of the year in metal. The second is, as you might have gathered, going to be a far more personal list, the ten albums I’ve listened to the most and keep going back to, time and time again, because they simply ‘click’ with where and who I am at the moment.

So here we go, here are the ‘Greatest’ albums of the year! Continue reading »

As you undoubtedly know by now, part of our year-end Listmania series consists of re-publishing lists of the year’s best metal that appear on what I’ve been calling “big platform” web sites. We didn’t include a year-end list from Stereogum in previous years, but I think it’s worth doing now.

Stereogum was one of the web’s first blogs to offer mp3 downloads, and it has evolved into a high-traffic portal with a focus on independent and alternative music news, downloads, videos, and gossip. Today Stereogum published its list of The Top 40 Metal Albums of 2012. I paid attention to the list, as I have for other “big platform” sites, because I’m curious to see what metal albums are being recommended by sites whose audiences probably consume a lot more non-metal than metal. But I also paid attention to the list because some writers with taste were involved in compiling it:

The extended introduction to the list was written by Stereogum’s news editor Michael Nelson, and the list itself list was compiled by Nelson plus Stereogum contributors Aaron Lariviere, Wyatt Marshall, and Doug Moore, all of whom also write for Invisible Oranges.

Interestingly, unlike other “big platform” lists we’ve published so far this year, the Stereogum list consciously excluded some albums that other cross-genre sites have included, in part because of doubts about whether the albums are really metal — and I’m talking about the 2012 releases by Baroness, Swans, Torche, and Converge. As you might predict from these exclusions, the albums on the list are also more consistently extreme than what we’ve seen from other big sites. Continue reading »