#2 The Devil’s Blood – The Time of No Time Evermore

As European as the Renaissance, as inviting as a red light, as despair-ridden as a dungeon full of skeletons, and as classic as Thin Lizzy, no new band caught my attention more this year than The Devil’s Blood, who rock the Transylvania castle party in a HUGE way. They released a demo in ’07, and a 7″ and 5-song EP last year, so call this one their first full-length, and it’s nothing but a gorgeous offering of ’70s metal (you know, the kind of metal that’s more rock n’ roll than metal, the kind that bands like Deep Purple played) and sacrilegious pop, an occult rock n’ soul record of wicked lore, perhaps summoned from the days of yore. Modernly speaking though, it’s like Urge Overkill jamming with Shiny Mama — this band is clearly the lovechild of Nash Kato and Yana Chupenko sent to hypnotize us all and steal our virtue. Yes! And their song “I’ll Be Your Ghost”? Yeah dude, far and away my favourite song of the year.

Listen to “I’ll Be Your Ghost” from The Time of No Time Evermore!

#1 Katatonia – Night is the New Day

Well, I’ve been jabbering on for 38 albums now and I don’t think there’s anything left for me to say. What can I say now that will do the new Katatonia record justice? Nothing. So I’ll let the great Mikael Åkerfeldt take this one home:

“Possibly the greatest ‘heavy’ record I have heard in the last 10 years…it truly is a masterpiece!’

Awesome.

Check out the video for “Day and then the Shade” from Night is the New Day!

#4 Mastodon – Crack the Skye

Are Mastodon the best heavy metal band in the ’00s? Maybe. Just maybe. If not, they’re definitely right up there and all these “new wave” metal bands that I listen to today have certainly taken some cues from the mighty Mastodon. They bring it all to the table: power, technique, melody, riffage, beard, and unholy mountain madness. They’ve never faltered, never failed — not for one album, not for one song. Where previous efforts saw the band taking giant, crushing strides over land and sea, Crack the Skye is a cosmic hellfire, an astral, spiritual journey right into the centre of oblivion. Mastodon’s long, strange tales have conquered every plane and this, their last release of the decade, proves once again that they also conquer the metal world.

Check out the video for “Oblivion” from Crack the Skye!

#3 Eagle Twin – The Unkindness of Crows

Once more I bring you a duo, but not just any duo, my favourite duo of the year. Or, at least, my favourite album by a duo this year. I’ve already boasted about the greatness of this album (both its sound and its look), and there’s not much more I can say about it other than it kicked me in the stomach the very first time I heard it and I’m still gasping for breath. Gentry Densley (of Iceburn fame) and Tyler Smith lay down a daunting debut, a feast of dark, opulent proportions that invites you to gorge like a hungry beast. So gorge, you bastards, because you won’t eat this well — this full, this ravenous, this proud — for a long, long time. I can’t wait to see what album number two brings.

Enjoy some live Eagle Twin!

#6 Priestess – Prior to the Fire

This one was a long time coming, almost four years in fact, and it blew every expectation I had right out of the water. After releasing their debut, Hello Master, Priestess was rolling quietly along until everything exploded; they signed to a major label, toured with some of the biggest bands in the biz, received increased radio airplay, and lent songs to smash hit video games. Fame, however, didn’t change them. In fact, they steered so clear of a commercial sound on Prior to the Fire that their label wouldn’t put it out. So that delayed things a bit, but Priestess finally found another way to release the album and despite the brilliance and success of Hello Master, there’s no doubt that Prior to the Fire is the album Priestess had always wanted to make. Stoner rock, progressive rock, classic rock, heavy metal…it’s all riffs and it’s all here in full bearded surround sound glory. And it’s completely perfect. This is my band, no doubt about it.

Listen to “The Firebird” from Prior to the Fire!

#5 Porcupine Tree – The Incident

It would be pretty much impossible for me to tell you who my favourite band of all time is, but if I was faced with the whole desert island scenario and was only allowed to have one band’s discography at my disposal, this would be the band. My love for Mark Lanegan is overshadowed by only one other singer/songwriter and that’s PT’s Steven Wilson, whose brilliance is unparalleled. Anything he touches (from side projects to producing) is always amazing. PT is a music nerd’s wet dream, an underground phenomenon with a cult following, their discography is expansive and eclectic, and they’ve created a unique, recognizable image with the help of artist Lasse Hoile. Every single thing they do, from songs to videos to packaging to live shows, is pure art, and not since the 70s has such care and thought been put into the album as an entity. Geez, look at me going on and on. I haven’t even got to the double-album The Incident yet. But really, there’s not much I can say. It’s brilliant. Their albums always are. And as before, The Incident plays with pre-conceived notions of genre like it’s a fetus in a mason jar and the result is the most mesmerizing, progressive, complex beauty you’ve ever heard.

Check out the video for “Time Flies” (which has been cut down from over 11:00 to just over 5:00) from The Incident!

#8 Trigger Effect – Dare to Ride the Heliocraft

This album may have been released digitally and on CD in 2008 (I know I was certainly listening to mp3s of the songs in 2008), but I recently picked up the vinyl version put out by Signed By Force and it says 2009 on it, so who am I to argue? Besides, this album is so insanely good (and straight-up insane) it deserves to make this list anyway, regardless what year it actually came out. Trigger Effect is a nasty kind of mayhem, a brutal force of punk rock fury so libelous that you’re likely to come away with bruises, both physically and mentally. Likewise, Dare to Ride the Heliocraft is 21 minutes of pure VENOM and the only thing crazier than the the album is Trigger Effect’s live show, which is highly volatile and inherently dangerous. This is one of my favourite Canadian bands right now and just like the patch on the back of my denim vest proclaims: Turbo Machine Ain’t Nothin’ To Fuck With.

Listen to “Nothing Says Action Like Giant Robots” from Dare to Ride the Heliocraft!

#7 Children – Hard Times Hanging At the End of the World

Spiritual conspiracy party riffs! I can’t take credit for that one, but I’m gonna use it because, oh man, that’s awesome. Drummer Adam Bennati of Early Man has teamed up with guitarists Jonny Ollsin (formerly of Vancouver’s S.T.R.E.E.T.S.) and Sklyer Spohn to form a wicked new DIY, twin guitar attack, backwoods, drink in your underwear heavy metal band. If Children came marching through my town in search of wicked, wasted warriors to join their wretched death tribe, I’d be the first motherfucker to sign up, no questions asked. I know I already gave out video of the year to Red Fang’s “Prehistoric Dog,” but Children’s “Power Spirit” video comes in at a real close second. Thrash on, my friends, and you’ll never have to worry about those hard times hanging.

Check out the video for “Power Spirit” from Hard Times Hanging At the End of the World!

#10 Pelican – What We All Come to Need

I really could have had Chicago’s Pelican on this list twice seeing as how they released the Ephemeral EP earlier in the year before they released What We All Come to Need, their fourth full-length album, but if I had to guess I’d say Pelican isn’t really a greedy band, so it’s all good. Well, hold on a minute now. Maybe I spoke too soon because when it comes to beautiful, heavy, instrumental post-whatever, Pelican is the greediest band there is. They OWN that shit and they’re not willing to give up one incredible riff of it. The fact is, Pelican has always swam deep and soared high, which basically means not many others comes close, and like their namesake, their momentous sound will swallow you whole.

Listen to “Strung Up From the Sky” from What We All Come To Need!

#9 Baroness – Blue Record

Again, I recently went off about how awesome Blue Record is, and since then I’ve listen to it many more times. When I started this list, I had this one penciled in at about sixteen or seventeen, but every time I put it on and cranked it up it climbed a little higher (or dropped a little lower, however you want to put it), and now here it is at number nine. Hell, give it a few more weeks/spins and it might make it into the top five. Baroness is so deft and creative that I always find something new to love about ‘em with each listen and I don’t know how history will look back on them in fifty years time, but I’ll be sorely disappointed if they don’t have their own chapter in the book of heavy metal. Another stand-out album from one hell of an epic band.

Check out the video for “A Horse Called Golgotha” from Blue Record!

#12 Ancestors – Of Sound Mind

As you may have already noticed with many of the entries I’ve included in the Top 39, I have a tendency to gravitate towards bands that, by their very nature, are an experience and, as such, create experiences with their music. I realize we’re all supposed to be suffering from A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. these days and that we’re supposed to consume our information and entertainment as quickly as possible and then move on to the next fashionable thing, but I don’t subscribe to that philosophy. That’s why I demand bands that demand my attention, and Ancestors demand my attention like few others. Their two-song debut, Neptune With Fire, was almost 40 minutes long, and this eight-song opus is over an hour long, yet, despite the length, it never bores. It’s full of texture, movement, depth, and power; a sweeping, sonic, attention-getting, attention-keeping journey of epic proportions. So take the time for this one, because it’s totally worth it.

As you can imagine, the songs on Of Sound Mind are long. Too long (or big) for me to upload here, so watch/listen to the first 10 minutes of the song, “The Trial”!

#11 Swallow the Sun – New Moon

Once again, let’s go back and revisit what I previously said about Swallow the Sun’s new album, New Moon. What else can I say? Well, it gives me chills — the good kind — and Swallow the Sun’s ominous Scandinavian essence feels so damn right this time of year. Even though it’s cold enough outside to frostbite my skin in mere minutes, I really want to put this one on in my ears and go for a long, cold, nighttime walk under a bright new moon where every icy step I take leads me closer to inevitable, frozen death. I want to see my last breath hang in front of me like a wintry ghost. I want to, but I won’t because I want to finish this list. But once I’ve done that, I’m off to wander in a cold, white future.

Just like Ancestor’s songs, Swallow the Sun’s songs are too long (or big) for me to upload, so watch/listen to “Weight of the Dead” from New Moon!

#14 Big Business – Mind the Drift

With the addition of guitarist Toshi Kasai for Mind the Drift, Big Business became a three-piece, but they really made a name for themselves as a two-piece, so consider this another notch in the beard for the mighty duos. Now, I don’t just love Big Business because I share the same last name with bassist/vocalist Jared Warren, or because Warren and drummer Coady Willis are now fixtures for the mega-awesome kings of stoner fuzz, Melvins, but those reasons certainly don’t hurt. No, what I love most about Big Business is that, musically speaking, they portage the terrain of mountainous sound with crooked backs and bleeding hands, stopping only to feast on the raw buffalo carcasses scattered along the way. I’ve always dug the crushing, and at times melodious, sludge n’ fuzz of Big Business and I still dig it, even if they have added a guitar to the arsenal.

Listen to “The Drift” from Mind the Drift!

#13 Saviours – Accelerated Living

Yeah, I just reviewed this album around the end of October, so if you can remember that you no doubt remember how much I dig Saviours and how much I dig the new album. Now, if you’ve been living under a rock, Saviours are a serious stoner thrash band, and if we’re to believe that metal is making a triumphant return to glory, Saviours is definitely one the bands leading that charge.  Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to go catch them live with 3 Inches of Blood in Edmonton last month and I still haven’t stopped crying about it, but I’ve been crushing this album non-stop ever since to try to make up for it. Anyway, now two EPs and three albums in, Saviours are really hitting their heavy stride. Beard!

Listen to “Apocalypse World Split” from Accelerated Living!

#16 Om – God is Good

Chris Hakius bows out and Emil Amos steps in, but this first ever line-up change hasn’t seemed to affect Om’s heady flow one bit. Another one of those terrible twosomes I mentioned many entries ago, Om, with Al Cisneros at the helm, keeps on keepin’ on, droning, dooming, chanting, and mesmerizing like the high priests of some holy smoking order delivering mass on the Sleep-y Sabbath. Like every other Om offering, God is Good has only a handful of songs, but can take up a good part of your day if you really want to get lost in it. And you will get lost in it, trust me.

Listen to “Cremation Ghat I” from God is Good!

#15 Red Fang – S/T

I love what’s going on in the metal world these days, thanks in large part to a number of bands in the top 39, including this one right here. Red Fang is a no-nonsense, honest, guttural, rabid, angry, cro-magnon heavy metal band intent on bludgeoning, guzzling, thrashing, blasting, and riffing their way to back-page, tape-trading, DIY immortality. I always wondered what happened to favoured freak machine fuckers Bad Wizard, and it turns out that one of ‘em has turned up right here in Red Fang. Awesome. Oh, and they get major points for shooting the most epic, ridiculous video of the year.

Check out the video for “Prehistoric Dog” from Red Fang!

Back when I wrote about Burning Love (#27), I promised you’d hear more about Quest for Fire. Well, here we are. Rising from the ashes of Canadian punk icons The Deadly Snakes and Cursed, Quest for Fire is a serious force of psychedelic garage mayhem and once this bastard starts spinning, no one is safe from the sparks that come spitting out from the smoking amplifiers. These sons of guns don’t need to go on a quest for fire because they’ve already found it, and between their pedigree and their energy, they’ve managed to release an infectious, fuzzy, dirty rock n’ roll record that will surely please the purist that lives deep inside of you.

Listen to “Bison Eyes” from Quest for Fire!

#17 Maylene and the Sons of Disaster – III

Things looked pretty dire for a couple of years there when metalcore and screamo were all the rage and you couldn’t escape the gaggles of scene kids with their shitty haircuts and shitty clothes and shitty everything. Well, I might’ve lost all hope if it wasn’t for Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. Here was a band that boasted the vocalist from the Christian metalcore band, Underoath, and who were tagged and claimed by the very scene I was revolting against. There was NO WAY I should’ve liked these guys. And sure, they’re still kind of metalcore, but dig the dirt and cowboy shirts and beards and kegs and kick-ass Southern rock. If you’re gonna associate Maylene with any scene at all it should be an American Gothic scene, or maybe a Deliverance scene, where you have to be aware of running headlong into every kind of backwoods, pitchfork kind of evil you can dream up. A lot of my friends still don’t dig the Maylene trip, but I love it. I think they’ve risen above the hole they were pigeoned in and busted some skulls along the way. They’ve kept a consistent, bad-ass sound throughout all three of their albums, so I’m not too concerned if III doesn’t really offer anything new because it still makes me want to crush a beer can on my forehead and wrestle a junkyard dog.

Check out the video for “Step Up (I’m On It)” from III.

#20 Black Math Horseman – Wyllt

L.A.’s Black Math Horseman will dissect your soul. That’s not a threat, that’s just the way it is. But don’t worry, you’re really gonna like it. There’s so much beautiful mystery attached to their debut, Wyllt,  that you’ll feel honoured to have been chosen for such a wonderful and wickedly winsome consecration. Don’t be afraid to let BMH take you by the hand and lead you down the foggy path of ambient doom they have laid out for you here because it’s only gonna end up at the best possible destination. And if you find yourself drawn to Sera Timms’ voice like a siren’s sweet call, well that’s just because it is. This is musical alchemy at its most spellbinding.

Listen to “Origin of Savagery” from Wyllt!

#19 Clutch – Strange Cousins from the West

Much like the appearance of Sonic Youth in the Top 39, Clutch is pretty much a no-brainer. Neil Fallon and Co. are the proud purveyors of beastly beard rock and pack one hell of a powerful punch. They shove a giant fist of heavy electricity so far down your throat you feel it in your balls (or ovaries, I suppose). Did you know I almost called this site Burning Beard instead of Broken Beard as an homage to the song off of Robot Hive/Exodus? No? Well now you do. The point is, no one grooves like Clutch and SCFTW is another straight shot of Jack Daniels in the long night of partying that is Clutch’s stellar career.

Check out the video for “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” from Strange Cousins from the West!