Whatever happened to good old fashioned kick-you-in-your-teeth American Heavy Metal?  This used to be the land of Pantera.  Of Life of Agony.  Of goddamned Slayer.

Seriously, try and name one American metal band that remains truly relevant in today’s scene.  Truly bleeding edge.

Lamb of God?  Please.

Slipknot?   What a fucking joke.

Mostodon?  Sure.  Kind of.  Saying you dig Mastodon is like a metalhead’s way of saying, yeah, but I’m a hipster too.  Or, I like math.

None of these bands are a cornerstone for the industry.  Truth is, every year, fewer and fewer contemporary American metal acts are producing the kind of innovative, interesting, and ultimately jarring records that set the tone for the rest of the industry. 

And while all these American metal bands compete to sound more and more alike, it’s the Scandinavians that are producing the groundbreaking, fist-to-the-wall metal that drives the rest of the industry.  Of this year’s Top 10 albums, only two were produced by domestic acts.  The other eight were put out by bands within the Scandianvian scene.  Some old timers (In Flames) and some relatively fresh faces (Eluveitie). 

Either way, the Scandinavian scene, for the last decade, have consistently been putting out the most brutal and beautiful shit the industry has to offer.  It’s the Scandivians who are taking risks, infusing new and different flavors into some the overused and ubiquitously clichéd metal structures.  It’s the Scandinavians who’ll set the benchmark for the next generation – in 2009 and beyond.

Top 10 Albums of the Year
(In no particular order)

1. Raunchy – Wasteland Discotheque

On their follow-up to Death Pop Romance (2006), Raunchy delivered a powerhouse record that showcases everything this band is about.  Catchy pop infusion, infectious melody, and crushing twin guitar work.  This is the kind of metal that locks itself in your head and doesn’t let up even after you’ve taken the disc out of the player

2. In Flames – A Sense of Purpose

After two hugely disappointing albums, Soundtrack to Your Escape (2004) and Come Clarity (2006), In Flames finally returns to form. This is one of the bands that originally helped define Swedish Melodic Death Metal.  With A Sense of Purpose, In Flames effectively takes back the mantle. 

3. 36 Crazyfists – The Tide and Its Takers

Not one of the albums you’ll find on many other Top 10 lists this year, but In Flames’ labelmates 36 Crazyfists consistently produce some of the best American metal available.  Sure, their style doesn’t evolve much album to album, but it doesn’t have to.  The Tide and Its Takers was designed specifically for 36 Crazyfists’ small but dedicated fan base.  And we appreciate it.

4. Byzantine – Oblivion Beckons

The best band that never really had a chance.  Byzantine dissolved right after the release of Oblivion Beckons, which is a shame, because this record is goddamned war machine.  Think Meshuggah, but really, really good.  This is music to kick people’s ass to.

5. Opeth – Watershed

I don’t think Opeth would be capable of producing a bad record even if they wanted to.  The worst music Mikael Åkerfeldt could ever create would still be 100 times better than the shit a band like, say, Five Finger Death Punch could come out with.  Bottom line, Åkerfeldt is a musical genius.  Watershed is an album threaded with complexity, intricacy, and intimacy.  It’s beautiful.

6. Amon Amarth – Twilight of the Thunder God

A 2008 critic’s favorite.  An album just about universally praised in the metal community.  Just a good, groovy, goddamned fist-in-the-air record.  The quality riffing presented here reminds of Carcass classics like Heartwork (1993) and Swansong (1996).  But centered around Norse mythology.  Track 2 “Guardians of Asgaard” riffs better than almost any other track you’ll hear from 2008.

7. Scar Symmetry – Holographic Universe

I tend to think of Scar Symmetry like a poor man’s Soilwork.  And in the absence of a proper record from that band in 2008, Holographic Universe effectively fills in the gap.  Crunchy, melodic, and infectious.  Every track on this album sets up a perfect sing-along moment for the fans in the pit.

8. Eluveitie – Slania

The one album that doesn’t sound like anything else you’ve heard this year, Slania is equal parts Celtic folk music and brutal melodic Scandinavian death metal.  Sure, as a genre, metal has always played nice with genre fusion (rap-metal, alt-metal, etc…), but here, Eluveitie succeeds in producing something that listening are always yearning for, an album that sound like nothing they’ve ever heard before.  Eluveitie is the band that Amorphis wishes they were.

9. Evergrey – Torn

After a widely perceived misstep with their 2006 album Monday Morning Apocalypse, Evergrey returns to their roots with Torn.  (Despite its many criticisms, this author though MMA fucking rocked).  With Torn, the Swedish progressive metallers have nurtured the sound from classics like The Dark Discovery (1998) and In Search of Truth (2001) and come with a sound so old, it’s new.  With this album, Evergrey is reborn better than they’ve ever been.

10. Mercenary – Architect of Lies

Mercenary is particularly verse in putting out records that equally haunting and orchestral, but brutally pit friendly.  The way how Mikkel Sandager invokes classic Rob Halford (or a risen from the grave Freddie Mercury) with his vocal delivery is unmatched.  In the game of clean vocals vs. dirty vocals, Mercenary are kings.  Architect of Lies is this band’s best album to date.