LISTMANIA 2024: STEREOGUM’S 10 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2024

 LISTMANIA 2024  3 Responses »
Dec 112024
 

(written by Islander)

This is a tough list to share, not because it’s a bad list but because it’s the swan song of the Black Market column, which has been running at Stereogum on a monthly basis since February 2013. As the kids used to say, I has the sads about this news. Well, but let’s back up a bit, for those who might be unfamiliar with that now-defunct institution.

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads, but its staff has included a talented and tasteful (though gradually dwindling) group of metal writers who have been responsible for the site’s monthly The Black Market column.

I’ve always looked forward to Stereogum‘s annual metal list prepared by the Black Market writers. The one for 2024 came out on Monday of this week. As usual it consists of only 10 entries, with accompanying reviews of the choices by Ian Chainey, Michael Nelson, Doug Moore, Wyatt Marshall.

The list feature also includes a retrospective about the column by Ian Chainey, and an entertaining but also poignant interview of all those old-timer writers listed above.

Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2023: STEREOGUM’S 10 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2023

 LISTMANIA 2023  1 Response »
Dec 152023
 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads, but its staff includes a talented and tasteful (though dwindling) group of metal writers who, among other things, are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for 11 years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2023 edition is out now (as of yesterday). As usual it consists of only 10 entries, with accompanying reviews of the choices by Ian Chainey and Wyatt Marshall. And yes, as I write this, the image at the top of the Stereogum list is the image you see above. I don’t know why it says 2022. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: STEREOGUM’S 10 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2022

 LISTMANIA 2022  No Responses »
Dec 152022
 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads, but its staff includes a talented and tasteful group of metal writers who among other things are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for ten years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2022 edition is out now. As usual it consists of only 10 entries, with accompanying reviews of the choices by Ian Chainey, Michael Nelson, and Wyatt Marshall. And again as usual, the list is preceded by an essay written by Ian Chainey.

I’d like to think that if I didn’t write for NCS every day I could use the time to come up with something as funny, erudite, and thought-provoking as that essay, but if I’m being honest I know I couldn’t. Same goes for the reviews accompanying the 10 album picks. But I don’t let that humbling and somewhat jealous realization interfere with enjoying the writing, which I did, and always do.

The essay also includes statistics, such as this one: “There have been 7,994 full-lengths released or slated to be released in 2022. That’s slightly off 2020’s 11-month pace of 8,409. Either way, and everyone please chant this like we’re on a game show, ‘Metal, there is a lot of it.’” That’s for damn sure. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2021: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF “THE 10 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2021”

 LISTMANIA 2021  No Responses »
Dec 102021
 

 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads, but its staff includes a talented and tasteful group of metal writers who among other things are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for nine years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2021 edition appeared yesterday. It again consists of only 10 entries, collectively assembled by Ian Chainey, Aaron Lariviere, and Wyatt Marshall. It’s preceded from this statement by Ian: “In keeping with the grand tradition, Aaron Lariviere would like to remind you that ‘this list will disappoint you.’ He’s right. Instead of bests, we pick favorites. That always makes for a fittingly weird list. Hell yeah.” Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF “THE 10 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2020”

 LISTMANIA 2020  7 Responses »
Dec 132020
 

 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads, but its staff includes a talented and tasteful group of metal writers who among other things are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for eight years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2020 edition appeared last Friday. It again consists of only 10 entries, collectively assembled by Ian Chainey, Aaron Lariviere, and Wyatt Marshall. As usual, it’s preceded by a long essay that offers thoughts about the year that’s about to gasp its last breath, this time written by Ian Chainey. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2019: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF THE BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2019

 LISTMANIA 2019  8 Responses »
Dec 092019
 

 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads (they have, for example, a list of the “50 Best Albums of 2019“ across many musical genres — which includes only two albums that I think would qualify as metal), but its staff includes a talented and tasteful group of metal writers who among other things are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for seven years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2019 edition appeared last Friday. It consists of only 10 entries, collectively assembled by Ian Chainey, Aaron Lariviere, and Wyatt Marshall (and perhaps the ghost of Michael Nelson). Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2018: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF “THE 10 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2018”

 LISTMANIA 2018  7 Responses »
Dec 072018
 

 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads (they have, for example, a list of the “50 Best Albums of 2018“, across many musical genres), but its staff includes a talented and tasteful group of metal writers who among other things are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for six years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2018 edition appeared yesterday — though it’s a shorter list than I recall from past years. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2017: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF THE BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2017

 LISTMANIA 2017  19 Responses »
Dec 142017
 

 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads, but its staff includes a talented and tasteful group of metal writers who among other things are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for five years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2017 edition appeared a couple of days ago. It again includes a ranked list of 40 albums. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF THE 40 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2016

 LISTMANIA 2016  37 Responses »
Dec 152016
 

stereogum-40-best-metal-albums-2016

 

Earlier this month as part of our annual LISTMANIA series I posted the names of the few metal albums that were included in Stereogum‘s list of “The Best 50 Albums of 2016” across all genres of music that Stereogum covers, while noting that their list of best metal was yet to come. Yesterday it arrived.

Stereogum is of course a “big platform” site that appeals to an audience much larger than merely metal lovers, but the site does have a heavyweight group of metal writers in its stable. They’re responsible for the  “The Black Market” column each month, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for four years, and Stereogum‘s annual metal list has been dependably solid for just as long. Unlike metal lists at other big cross-genre sites, Stereogum’s hasn’t had the aroma of pandering and calculation hanging about it like a fresh fart.

And so I’ve been anxious to see Stereogum‘s metal-only year-end list, as I have been in past years. As usual, this year it’s accompanied by an introductory essay — which this year is especially noteworthy in its own right. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF THE BEST 50 ALBUMS OF 2016

 LISTMANIA 2016  17 Responses »
Dec 032016
 

stereogum-50-best-albums-2016

 

As you probably know, part of our year-end LISTMANIA series involves re-posting year-end lists of the best metal releases as selected by what I call “big platform” web sites and print zines, i.e., publications that reach numbers of readers vastly in excess of those reached by sites like ours that are more exclusively focused on metal, and in our case the more extreme variants of the genre.

In recent days Stereogum posted its list of “The Best 50 Albums of 2016“. This isn’t a “metal only” list. It’s an impossible comparison of apples to oranges, identifying and ranking albums across a wide range of musical genres. I suppose in that respect it’s like the musical equivalent of the Westminster Dog Show. Continue reading »

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