Ray's 40 Immaculate Receptions for 2012
Greetings, readers! While this year may not have been the most active for The Metal Minute, on a personal level, I have found much satisfaction in my duties with Blabbermouth. Right now, I have over there reviews of the latest from Soundgarden, Kamelot, Neurosis, Isis, Kylesa, Jon Lord, Silencer, Shadowside, Void Moon, Kruk, Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi's Who Cares, A Twisted Xmas: Live in Vegas and Saxon's Heavy Metal Thunder: The Movie.
In 2013, I will continue to review for the Blab and hopefully pick up the pace here at this site since so many of you have remained faithful and patient for activity here.
While mulling over my favorite albums of this year, I acknowledge as always that one cannot possibly hear every single release the music industry offers, just in the major label spectrum alone. I've encountered so many bright, new acts coming up through the majors, indies and homespinners, many who will likely be gone as fast as they've arrived. I nonetheless wish them all well since I know better than most what it means to push for a dream, blood and soul. 2013 should hopefully become my most successful year on the heels of all that was accomplished in 2012.
While the majority of my annual Immacluate Receptions list this year is concrentrated in metal, I cannot help but acknowledge the greatness of other groups outside of this genre. Would that I had the time to push into those avenues deeper, this list might've been even more diverse, but I consider 2012 a strong year overall for music and I'm proud to have been able to keep a mean pace consuming new materials this year. I've of course, inadvertently neglected many bands seeking my audience and to all of you who apply, I'm sorry. My life is not my own as always, but I do the best I can to refine it so that pleasure counters the pain. Unfortunately, the means my emails get clogged and my responsibilies get heaped. Never give up the fight, to coin a now-corny eighties metal colloquialism. That declaration used to mean everything, so keep it true to your own pursuits and desires.
With that, I offer you fine folks my 40 Immaculate Receptions for 2012:
3 comments:
These lists are always hard to make. - CJK
40. High on Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis
39. Dragged Into Sunlight – Widowmaker
38. Testament – Dark Roots of Earth
37. Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
36. Accept – Stalingrad
35. The Faceless – Autotheism
34. Baroness – Yellow & Green
33. The Cult – Weapon of Choice
32. Rush – Clockwork Angels
31. Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
30. Lamb of God – Resolution
29. In Mourning – The Weight of the Oceans
28. Between the Buried and Me – Parallax II: The Future Sequence
27. Alcest – Les Voyages de l’ame
26. Graveyard – Lights Out
25. A Life Once Lost – Ecstatic Trance
24. Moonspell – Alpha Noir/Omega White
23. Pig Destroyer – Book Burner
22. Neurosis – Honor Found In Decay
21. Vision of Disorder – The Cursed Remain Cursed
20. Witchcraft – Legend
19. Be’lakor – Of Breath and Bone
18. Woods of Ypres – Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric Light
17. Periphery – II: This Time It’s Personal
16. Every Time I Die – Ex-Lives
15. Ihsahn – Eremita
14. Deftones – Koi No Yokan
13. Katatonia – Dead End Kings
12. Swallow the Sun – Emerald Forest and the Blackbird
11. Sylosis – Monolith
10. Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction
9. Soundgarden – King Animal
8. Daylight Dies – A Frail Becoming
7. Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol
6. Devin Townsend Project – Epicloud
5. Blut aus Nord – 777: Cosmosophy
4. Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage
3. Enslaved – RIITIIR
2. Meshuggah – Koloss
1. Torche – Harmonicraft
My favorite non-metal of 2012 was Gary Clark, Jr.'s "Blak N Blu".
I didn't get to hear that Gary Clark, Jr. album after I was impressed by the EP preceding it. Hell of a good list, Chris, and I see I missed a few albums along the way this year, though admittedly I was out of the scene a bit until I picked up with Blabbermouth in July.
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