The Official Top 10 of 2006

This is it. IT'S OFFICIAL. Beware.10. Isis - In the Absence of Truth (October 31st) A solid release from Isis with the basic Isis style, only a bit more dynamic and less hardcore shouts. The album feels like one long song, but not in the bad way. Through crushing chords, and interesting song structures, and interesting harmony, they bring an explosive, trudging, metal album.Highlights: Wrists of Kings, Holy Tears, Garden of Light9. Strapping Young Lad - The New Black (July 11th)An extreme metal project of Devin Townsends, The New Black takes SYL from an incredibly intense thash/industrial act to a more progressive intenste industrial act. The New Black is more melodic than some of SYL's earlier albums, which is a bit of a refreshing change. It's great.Highlights: You Suck, Antiproduct, Far Beyond Metal, Almost Again8. The Sound of Animals Fighting - Lover, the lord has left us (May 16th)A combination of noise, electronica, and progressive rock, The Sound of Animals fighting is a collective of artists in potentially terrible bands that becomes more than the sum of it's parts. It is not a normal album. The music is challenging, engaging, and altogether exciting. It's enjoyable and possibly about a horse. Who knows.Highlights: SkullFlower, Horses In The Sky, This Heat, The Heretic7. The Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra (January 31st)Devin Townsend is an amazing artist. His incredible use of odd harmonization, his amazing vocal performances, his eclectic but consistently brilliant discography. The man has made almost 20 albums in the course of 10 years. His creative juices explode with one of his most ambitious releases to date. A concept album that spans an entire 13 songs, with a silly little bonus track. Every song on this one, interlude or otherwise, is a gem in it's own right. His genre ignorant progressive music is both emotional and technical. Definitely brilliant.Highlights: Triumph, Vampira, Pixellate, Notes from Africa6. Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain (August 8th)Combing harsh whispered vocals, heavy riffs, and post-rock-esque dynamic contrast, Agalloch have created a unique musical experience. Their heavy reliance on atmosphere and dynamics lead to some amazingly intense moments, beautiful and harsh. Very diverse, very unique, very good. Highlights: Limbs, Falling Snow, Fire Above, Ice Below5. The Album Leaf - Into the Blue Again (Sept 12th) Opening with a quiet beautiful piece entitled "This Light," Into the Blue again is full of lush melody and tear-jerkingly beautiful songwriting. The overall mood of the album is a calmness. In between the sweeping melody lines and the perfectly timed eletronica-esque beats, is a solid album to cuddle to. Or snooze to. Or just be at peace with the world to. Highlights: This Light, Always For You, Red Eye, Wishful Thinking 4. Edguy - Rocket Ride (Sometime during the year) Within the last 3 months, I have begun to enjoy this silly metal band from Germany quite a lot. Rocket Ride is a bombastic, well, ride, through a hard-rock/80's esque metal world, full of hard-hitting riffs and fast-paced guitar work. The most impressive thing about this CD, however, is the fact that you can just feel the testosterone pumping throughout the whole thing. It's a CD with balls. Huge, hairy, sweaty, german balls.Highlights: Sacrifice, Rocket Ride, Wasted Time, Superheroes3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife (October 3rd) On their Capitol debut, the Decemberists turned up the prog and turned down the folk. The album features 2 songs over 10 minutes long, The Island, which has more of a jammy feel towards the beginning, but ends with a quiet acoustic guitar melody. The Crane Wife 1&2 is basically 2 songs in one, the first being quite amazing, the second being quite mellow. Yes, it's different than the rest of their releases, yes, it's a right after a major label signing, and yes, it's still really good. The End.Highlights: The Island, The Crane Wife 1&2, The Crane Wife 3, O! Valencia, Yankee Bayonet2. The Mars Volta - Amputechture (September 12th)The Mars Volta are an interesting band. Amputechture is a frentic blast of quick guitars, weird effects, and distorted vocals. Taking their explosive brand of prog-rock to new heights, the mars volta have crafted a group of songs that spend time pittering, pattering, building up, and rocking out. I actually saw them play many of these songs live. It was an adventure. The lyrics make no sense, the music goes everywhere, and it never stops. Between Cedric's intense wails, and Omar's furious guitar-work, it is, how we say in the business, kick-ass.Highlights: Tetragrammaton, Meccamputechture, Day of the Baphomets1. Blind Guardian - A Twist in the Myth (September 5th)It's no secret that I love Blind Guardian. It is also no secret that Blind Guardian is the most amazing band in the world. A Twist in The Myth proves that they can be amazing even if they take a bit of a different route. Now, ATITM is not quite as complex as A Night at the Opera, and not quite as epic as Nightfall in Middle-Earth. A interesting combination of thrash, power metal, and some weird new Blind Guardian thing, this CD goes where no Blind Guardian CD has ever gone before. For the first time, Blind Guardian decided to just __rock the fuck out__. Songs like Another Stranger Me and Otherland have parts that are simply just rocking out. It definitely has a special kick to it. A truly great album from a truly great band.Highlights: Entire AlbumHonorable Mentions:Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side (October 3rd)Ultra-Melodic Viking Death Metal? Yes.Dragonland - Astronomy (November 16th)Power metal... __IN SPACE!__OSI - Free (July 9th)Interesting Rock/Electronic/Spacey/Experimental music. Woo.And the fancy Honourable Mention.Amorphis - Eclipse (March 21st)Interesting Prog-Metal with Folky melodies.