The Top 50 Albums of 2011 - 50-41

41. Danava – Hemisphere of Shadows
Danava nailed down its take on all manner of spacey, progressive 70’s rock on its self-titled debut a few years back, so it should come as no surprise that album number three is more a re-iteration of ground they’ve already covered than any bold leap forward. That being said, their hyperactive, kitchen sink approach to all kinds of organ addled, laser show rockin’ pre-punk classic rock and roll is kicked up a notch here with some classic heavy metal dual guitarmonies, perhaps at the expense of some of the spacey ambience they featured so prominently initially. The songs here are shorter this time out, but the band still knows how to play their asses off as they tear through their tightened arrangements. It’s like Lark’s Tongues in Space Ritual of the Beast in here. As usual, their strength lies in off the rails jamming, and each song is well crafted enough that the momentum builds and is sustained throughout each track. Once again Danava has turned in a worthwhile listen for devotees of modern art rock.

42. TV On the Radio – Nine Types Of Light
When listened to in a vacuum, Nine Types of Light sounds like the happiest record these New Yorkers have made. In truth, a pall hung over these sessions. Sadly, bassist/keyboardist Gerard Smith passed away from lung cancer just nine days after the album was released. It’s as if the band’s way of coping with the struggle was to dance their problems away. The bleak paranoia of the Bush-era TV On the Radio has given way to a funkier, more dance-inflected sound. The record is not nearly as dense or difficult as earlier opuses, and doesn’t have the spiky attitude that marked them either. Instead, Nine Types of Light is simple and streamlined, the songs crafted to achieve maximum immediacy. Gorgeous songs like “You” and “Will Do” express heartfelt sentiments instead of cloaking them in irony. It’s not as good as their best work, but still a very enjoyable album from a band who’s future would appear to be in doubt.

43. Jesu – Ascension
Justin Broadrick returns once again for a record of slow-motion fuzz guitar meltdowns. His uniquely metallic take on traditional shoegaze dynamics is both suffocatingly heavy and delicate as gauze. Everything here appears to the listener through a codeine fog. Like previous Jesu releases, Ascension has a meditative quality and works equally well as quiet mood music or as a thunderously loud headtrip. If anything, it is even more song-oriented than previous Jesu works, but songs like “Fools” and “Broken Home” are extended riff monsters that march inexorably into oblivion, dissolving into textural bliss. This is music for watching the snow fall gently in the early winter morning, or watching the polar ice caps melt on a doomed planet.

44. Opeth - Heritage
So Opeth finally went ahead and made a straight up ‘70s prog rock album. That’s cool, I suppose if anyone was going to do that it’d be these guys. The name is a pretty obvious allusion to this record’s homage to the types of bands that have been inspiring Opeth since their very inception. Understand this though; nothing on Heritage sounds like metal in any way. The band certainly rocks, and the instrumental chops and compositional ambition this band is known for is here in spades. But don’t go in expecting anything resembling their decade-old progressive black metal classic Blackwater Park, because you won’t find it. This album is all noodly keys and angular guitar solos crisscrossing over bizarre time signatures and clean but abstract vocals. If that hasn’t scared you away, well than have a bombastic neoclassical blast!

45. Primordial – Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand
This album rages like a storm at sea. Primordial have been among the leading lights in the Viking metal scene for a few years now, and Redemption is a new high water mark for them. Music here evolves slowly, with each song containing several riffs. The playing here is sharp, but not particularly technical. The approach here is a little bit rougher than what your average Maiden and Priest-worshipping power metal band would go for, but this is no Scandinavian black metal retread. Each song is an absolute epic, featuring ridiculously heroic manly bellows about war and redemption and triumph. If that doesn’t sound like the soundtrack to your next fantasy role playing game, I’m gonna roll for initiative.

46. Arch Enemy – Legions Of Khaos
These guys have always struck me as faithful disciples of classic metal. Even though the vocals have stayed in the gutter through multiple personnel changes, the dueling leads and classic NWOBHM harmonies of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest have always been their bread and butter. Here the band remains faithful to that template, harnessing a speedy and song-based attack that steers clear of the dirtier tendencies of thrash and death metal. The band takes a highly composed approach to songwriting, and the guitar leads here are tuneful and powerful. Great metal anthems like “Bloodstained Cross” are interspersed with some gorgeous neo-classical acoustic interludes to enhance the dynamic and textural variety of the record, a move that should win points with fans of classic heavy metal fare like Mercyful Fate and Helloween. The record does tend to sag a little with some undistinguished tracks in the middle, but it finishes strong with the awesome “Vengence is Mine,” capped by a brutalized version of the classic Scorpions track “The Zoo.”

47. Six Organs Of Admittance – Asleep On The Floodplain
Another solid record from Ben Chasny’s long-running acid folk project. The 12 and a half minute drone meditation and acid-fried guitar solo of “S/word and Leviathan” is easily the best track here, while the rest is more of the same vaguely eastern-sounding acoustic figures and delicate singing that Chasny has been the master of for over a decade now. “Light of the Light” in particular is one of the most gorgeous songs Chasny has ever written. I’m getting the feeling he can knock these records out in an afternoon if he really wants to. C’mon Ben! Give Ethan a call and get Comets on Fire back together!

48. Exhumed – All Guts, No Glory
These goregrind veterans sound as furious as a band half their age, and twice as technically accomplished. You know the score here. Relentless blast beats, misshapen two and a half second solos, crushing mile-a-minute riffs. There are two vocalists, one doing a deep and guttural growl and the other doing a harsh rasp, both of them spewing unintelligible lyrics that probably resemble the script of a “Saw” movie. But there are also isolated instances of tunefulness, the mark of a band that knows how to balance brutality with songcraft. Warp-speed blasts like “Your Funeral, My Feast” and the title track are genuinely catchy. There are no dungeon production values here either. Everything sounds heavy, powerful and huge, while still retaining a gut-punching immediacy. This record will rip your face off.

49. Absu – Abzu
Abzu is the polar opposite of Absu’s sprawling 2009 self-titled masterpiece. Here the band’s blackened thrash is ripped out at a furious pace with little time for atmospheric interludes or meandering passages. With the exception of the 14 minute epic “A Song For Ea,” these tracks are short, vicious, and unrelenting. Personally I prefer the more ambitious Absu to this record, but the single-minded ferocity with which the band attacks the material is something to behold.

50. Crowbar – Sever The Wicked Hand
These veterans have continually carried the torch for raw southern sludgecore for over two decades now. Sever The Wicked Hand carries on this tradition with a vengeance. Songs like “Isolation” and “Liquid Sky And Cold Black Earth” are dripping with hate and disgust. Everything here goes towards establishing mood, and as the structure of the western world begins to crumble, it’s not too hard to imagine Crowbar’s sluggish riffs and screeching feedback briars serving as its epitaph. If you grew in New Orleans during the early 2000s, you’d be this pissed off too.