Heavy metal Top 5 of '08

First, I'll let you lovely people know which 2008 metal albums I have, and thus are able to yell at me for not buying your favorite metal album of this past year.  To which I humbly apologize, and then timidly request that you wire me the $20 necessary to purchase said-album.  Being broke sucks, but I do what I can.

In no particular order:
Night Eternal - Moonspell
Something Wicked Pt. 2: The Crucible of Man - Iced Earth
Antithesis - Origin
The Fathomless Mastery - Bloodbath
01011001 - Ayreon
The Unsettling Dark - Martriden
Angl - Ihsahn
We are the Nightmare - Arsis
Strychnine.213 - Aborted
Fury and Flames - Hate Eternal
Blooddrunk - Children of Bodom
Obzen - Meshuggah
Southern Storm - Krisiun
Prevail - Kataklysm
Kolossus - Keep of Kalessin
Watershed - Opeth

First, a few awards that I feel are necessary.

Newcomer of the Year:  We will always adore the legends, the stalwarts, and long-standing members of the musical community.  However, its the fresh blood, the new ideas, and youthful energy that keep any musical genre from getting stale.  With only one or two albums deep into their musical career and already showing considerable talent and promise, its these fresh faces that will eventually become the legends that a new generation will emulate. 

Winner: Martriden!  From icey mountain slopes covered with freezing snow that these rookies craft truly pummeling black metal.  However, they can hardly sit still, their latest album "The Unsettling Dark" also features truly progressive moments, with almost folksy interludes, yet none of this progressiveness sound contrived.  Its this kind of willingness to spread their wings so early that will mark these lads as musicians to look up to.  Oh, these guys are from Montana, not Norway, gotcha!

Runner Up: Ihsahn!  To call Ihsahn a "newcomer" is just plain false.  Ihsahn has been ripping it up since the early nineties as one of the founding members of Emporer.  However, his solo career is just getting underway.  "Angl" is only his second album, and already its clear he's a masterful songwriter.  Whether its elegant yet merciless, or soft and serene, whatever style of song Ihsahn decides to write, he does so with attention to detail and impeccably high standards.  

Technical band of the year:  These bands feature only the limberest of fingers and the most precise drum beats.  Only the true virtiuosos need apply here.  Musicians who have spent countless hours practicing and thus crafting albums that have wannabe guitar heroes pulling out their hair in an attempt to play along.

Winner: Meshuggah!  As if being technical geniuses wasn't enough, Meshuggah applies this talent to the maddeningly bizarre time signatures of 3/11 and then suddenly switching to 4/4 for only a few seconds before going to 15/24, and if it sounds like I'm making up time signatures, I am, because I don't know what they're doing.  Try to keep the beat, if you can.

Runner Ups: Children of Bodom, Origin, and Arsis

And now for the main event:

#5:  "Something Wicked Pt. 2: The Crucible of Man" by Iced Earth!  A late entry into my 2008 collection, and I'm not much for power metal, but these guys, who have spent the last two decades honing their craft, have created something truly magnificient here, and I would be dishonoring them if I didn't include them.  If you have a taste for truly epic power metal.  Iced Earth is the band for you.

#4:  "Antithesis" by Origin!  Technical wizards with a never-ending supply of guitar sweeps, these death metal masters craft merciless and pummeling music that travels at breakneck speeds, never relents, and is never boring.  Scary guitar work, scary lyrics, scary vocals, these guys are truly sick!  And trust me, that's a good thing.

#3:  "Kolossus" by Keep of Kalessin!  One of the truly great black metal bands to emerge from Norway who are just now beginning to make their presence known in the states.  A moody album that tells a truly vile, yet epic story, this album takes you through so many musical styles and twists and turns that its difficult to tell what's going to happen next.  Yet they never loose their black metal attitude!

#2:  "Night Eternal" by Moonspell!  One of my favorite bands.  Dark, haunting, brutal, mournful, angry, and even a little romantic.  This is a death metal band that would make Dracula proud.  Utilizing both a tortured growl and a smooth barotone voice on top of grand operatic death metal shrouded in gothic shadows, Moonspell kills you and comforts you at the same time.  A truly unique and special band.

#1:  "Watershed" by Opeth!  Ah, Opeth.  What is there that can be said about a band that inspires devastating mosh pits in one song, and then in the next song everyone in the audience to raise their lighters in the air for a tear-jerking ballad.  Sporting a new line-up for their latest album, yet always Opeth through and through, if you haven't checked this band out, I can truly say, shame on you!  You are really missing out on the most versatile, elegant, brutal, and one of a kind bands out there, period!  Not just in metal, but in music!  When everyone else is complaining on the decline in the quality of music, Opeth only gets better.  I couldn't be more serious when I say check this band out!