Regarding the lack of big name bands on the list: the established acts that you pointed out last year are all critic favorites, whereas the ones that didn't make the cut this year are all popular with the average metal fan but are generally less beloved by the critical community. In particular non-metal centric sites never cover bands like Behemoth, Dark Funeral et al, but love to talk about Converge and Mastodon.
Yeah that's a good point. I do think I wouldn't have been surprised when a band like Slipknot of Lamb of God would've made the list the same way I guess. But you're right, most of the bands we're talking about are at a different crossroad when looking at it from most serious critics.
One thing about the LoG, Slipknot and Mastodon records is that while they arrived with some fanfare and charted high at first, they didn't really seem to stick around or have a lot of legs. Even Hushed & Grim, which was technically a double album, didn't feel like that big of a statement. Slipknot has entered the legacy phase of their career (actually we could say that about all three, crazy as that sounds), and while I actually liked Omens better than a lot of LoG records, they've also settled into a formula. It's a formula that works for them, but knowing exactly what you're going to get from a new Lamb of God record doesn't exactly create anticipation. As a result, it felt like there was a lot more runway for newer and smaller bands to make their mark.
Thanks for the writeup! I'll have to check out Chat Pile- been hearing about them a lot lately (hence their appearance on this list) and although sludge isn't always my thing I'm definitely intrigued. Interesting cover art too.
Regarding the lack of big name bands on the list: the established acts that you pointed out last year are all critic favorites, whereas the ones that didn't make the cut this year are all popular with the average metal fan but are generally less beloved by the critical community. In particular non-metal centric sites never cover bands like Behemoth, Dark Funeral et al, but love to talk about Converge and Mastodon.
Yeah that's a good point. I do think I wouldn't have been surprised when a band like Slipknot of Lamb of God would've made the list the same way I guess. But you're right, most of the bands we're talking about are at a different crossroad when looking at it from most serious critics.
One thing about the LoG, Slipknot and Mastodon records is that while they arrived with some fanfare and charted high at first, they didn't really seem to stick around or have a lot of legs. Even Hushed & Grim, which was technically a double album, didn't feel like that big of a statement. Slipknot has entered the legacy phase of their career (actually we could say that about all three, crazy as that sounds), and while I actually liked Omens better than a lot of LoG records, they've also settled into a formula. It's a formula that works for them, but knowing exactly what you're going to get from a new Lamb of God record doesn't exactly create anticipation. As a result, it felt like there was a lot more runway for newer and smaller bands to make their mark.
Thanks for the writeup! I'll have to check out Chat Pile- been hearing about them a lot lately (hence their appearance on this list) and although sludge isn't always my thing I'm definitely intrigued. Interesting cover art too.
Awesome, Peter!