So this is all of the sub genres of rock with a little more aggression. For example Screamo, Hardcore, Grindcore, Metal, and blah blah blah. Included are punk and yeah even some pop punk. Not a big Nu-Metal fan which kinda shows. Thanks for reading.

1. Brand New – Deja Entendu
2. Alkaline Trio-From Here to Infirmary
3. Saosin – Translating the Name E.P.
4. Thrice-The Artist and The Ambulance
5. Bayside – The Walking Wounded
6. Alexis on Fire – Watch Out!
7. Between the Buried and Me – Self Titled
8. Circa Survive – Juturna
9. Haste the Day – When Everything Falls
10. Coheed and Cambria – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3,
11. Underoath – They’re Only Chasing Safety
12. Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
13. Andrew WK – I Get Wet
14. As I Lay Dying – Frail Words Collapse
15. Comeback Kid – Wake the Dead
16. Every Time I Die – Hot Damn.
17. Thursday – Full Collapse
18. AFI – Silver and Cold
19. New Found Glory – Sticks and Stones
20. Mastadon – Leviathan

Shouldn't 18 be AFI-Sing the Sorrow?

Stiefmo, I haven't heard most of those albums. Frankly, I've never even heard of some of those bands. I want to play along though, so I made my own little list. I'm not going with 20 though. Rather these are my 15 "Essential" Metal Albums of the past decade. Also, I don't really listen to punk, so this is all metal. I call this list...

There Will Be Whales

15. The Call of the Wretched Sea - Ahab (2006)



I promised whales, so you're gonna damn well get some fucking whales. Most of this album's lyrics are copied verbatim from Moby Dick. Ahab's style is funeral doom, which I don't normally enjoy. This is awesome though. The band actually sounds like they're inside the belly of a whale under the fucking sea.

Listen to: The Sermon. It isn't on youtube though, so try something like The Hunt

14. The Mantle - Agalloch (2002)



Any Agalloch album is worth getting, but this one is my favourite. This is the definitive rainy-day-cabin-in-the-woods album, but outside of that it's pretty good too

Listen to: ...And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth

13. Hangman's Hymn - Sigh (2007)



Sigh is...different. They call it black metal but this mix of crazy Japanese laughing/singing is pure madness. Hilarious too. Probably the funniest album of the decade.

Listen to: Inked In Blood

12. Two Hunters - Wolves in the Throne Room (2007)



Black metal that doesn't sound like black metal. The band are all about agriculture and the environment, though I'm not sure their lyrics are intelligible to the average Joe.

Listen to: Cleansing. If you want to listen only to one song please let this be it. Turn up the speakers, close your eyes and listen to the first 4:40 minutes *uninterrupted*. After that, it's up to you. Best to brace yourself when the thunder rolls...

11. Dopethrone - Electric Wizard (2000)



Crunchy! I love the hell out of this stoner metal album. I can only imagine the heights it would reach if I smoked weed. If you ignore that Black Sabbath are still around, I'd say this sounds like a modern Sabbath album -- slow and heavy.

Listen to: Funeralopolis

10. Lateralus - Tool (2001)



Tool, incredibly talented, but sometimes incredibly pretentious. I love em anyway. Lateralus is their best album of the naughties.

Listen to: Schism. Seriously though, everyone should already know this song and its music video.

09. To the Nameless Dead - Primordial (2007)



Primordial is a band that deserves to be heard more. They make music that comes from the heart and you can hear their pride in their country speak through the lyrics. I think their front man has one of the better voices in the business. It's a raspy voice like the lead of Disturbed, just much better.

Listen to: Empire Falls

08. From Mars to Sirius - Gojira (2005)



Whales muthafucka! These Frenchies rock. From Mars to Sirius is a concept album about how humanity must do something to save the Earth before it is too late. Along the way a guy flies through space looking for flying whales.

Listen to: Flying Whales. What? You expected something else?

07. With Oden on Our Side - Amon Amarth (2006)



Amon Amarth have been around for years and yet I could never get into them. This album changes things. They still sing about Vikings, Norse mythology and pillaging, but despite its goofiness this album is a treat to listen to.

Listen to: Valhall Awaits Me (and follow the lyrics on the right). Then tell me if it isn't one of the funnest metal songs you've ever heard.

06. In the Absence of Truth - Isis (2006)



Most of Isis' loyal fans will tell you that this is one of their weaker albums. I'm not one of their most loyal fans. In the Absence of Truth is their most ambitious album (it's inspired by Don Quixote along with several other things) and easily my favourite.

Listen to: Dulcinea. (Links to a fan video, but a good one).

05. Traced in Air - Cynic (2008)



Cynic broke up shortly after their epic 1993 album Focus. Much to everyone's surprise they returned in 2008 and didn't suck. Far from it, they created the best album of the year and one of the best of the decade. Fans of Focus should be aware that this album is much more mellow though. The Death Metal influences are all but gone, it's mostly Prog Metal now. The slightly robotic vocoder voice may take some getting used to, but I think it's an asset to this group.

Listen to: Integral Birth

Bonus: My only youtube video is a mashup of Nunc Stans and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I think it came out alright and the comments I have are flattering. Care to give your friend Ed some views? :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtG1OjpkCWY

04. Leviathan - Mastodon (2004)



Thought you saw the last of the whales? You fool! Leviathan is a concept album based around Moby Dick (yes, another one). I've long considered this my favourite album by the massive force that is Mastodon, that is until I started making this list...

Listen to: Blood and Thunder. Awful, awful video for a great song.

Also, this:



03. Crack the Skye - Mastodon (2009)



I've come to the conclusion that Crack the Skye is Mastodon's best album. The whole thing is tight, there's not a single filler track on this record. Depending on your take, the album can be about Rasputin and worm holes or about the drummer's sister who committed suicide.

Listen to: The Last Baron. One of the best songs the band has ever created. I'd guess they would say we could set this world ablaze. Yes, you could say that. The Last Baron is the most addictive song I've ever heard.

02. Ghost Reveries - Opeth (2005)



Opeth. There isn't another band like them. It's a testament to their greatness that people who can't stand the death voice still adore this band. They got me back into listening to metal after I had given up for several years and they still haven't been usurped in my heart.

Listen to: Ghost of Perdition

01. Blackwater Park - Opeth (2001)



More Opeth. I adore the way they shift heavy death metal segments to soft, beautiful ones sung with a clean voice. These shifts from heavy to soft and back again happen several times in most Opeth songs often at unpredictable times. The lead is one of the very few death metal singers who actually has a lovely clean singing voice and doesn't use the death growl to mask his inadequacies.

Listen to: The Drapery Falls. A great example of the music the band makes. The lyrics start quiet and revert to that tone several times. In between...well, you'll have to listen.

Runners up: Anything else from Opeth, Mastodon, Agalloch, Isis, Tool and Primordial. A few Neurosis albums too.

There. My kudos and sincere thanks if anyone actually reads this thing. It only took my around 2 hours to do.

Nice list Ed. I especially like the cartoon. Definitely made me LOL out loud.

Here is my top 15 albums of the decade. Most of my picks are metal.

15. Kamelot - The Black Halo
14. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
13. Machine Head - The Blackening
12. Epica - Consign to Oblivion
11. Buckcherry - Time Bomb
10. Otep - The Ascension
9. Serenity - Fallen Sanctuary
8. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
7. Kamelot - Epica
6. Green Day - American Idiot
5. Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
4. Protest the Hero - Fortress
3. Dream Theater - Dark Clouds and Silver Linings
2. Living Colour - The Chair in the Doorway
1. Nightwish - Century Child

Thanks Kratz. Your list makes me realise that I've gone through life without hearing any Nightwish. It's fairly obvious that you would recommend them, but what's the best starting point? Century Child? Do they sound similar to anyone else I'd know?

If you haven't heard Nightwish, then you probably haven't heard any other bands like them. They are the most well-known of the symphonic metal bands, and basically helped start the genre. I would start with Century Child, as I feel that's their best album. I would probably listen to Dark Passion Play last. It's their latest album, and also their first one with their new lead singer. She's very good, but not as good as their original one. The band had to change their sound a bit to complement the change in singing style from operatic to a more straight-forward female singing style. Obviously I liked it though.

Thanks and will do. I've added it to the queue. Right behind your Baroness recommendation

Here are all the punk/metal albums from my Top 16, plus a few that aren't-really-but-kind-of-close-enough-I-guess.

Addicted (Devin Townsend, 2009)
Alien (Strapping Young Lad, 2005)
Black Holes and Revelations (Muse, 2006)
Blackwater Park (Opeth, 2001)
Down II (Down, 2002)
Get Out of My Yard (Paul Gilbert, 2006)
Lateralus (Tool, 2001)
Miss Machine (The Dillinger Escape Plan, 2004)
Past Lives (Black Sabbath, 2002)
Reinventing the Steel (Pantera, 2001)

Uhh...like...wha? Ah! I used to hear a few of those bands. There was this indie record store in Springdale, PA, which turned me on to that stuff. It was the great place to find some used albums for a couple coins. The owner would throw in a few Century Media and RoadRunner Records samplers for free. Infernal Majesty's "None Shall Defy" goes great with "Night Of The Living Dead".

Sadly, once the Mills Mall built-up it closed down.

Send....more...paramedics...

--RB|!R|

P.S. I'll always have CD Warehouse....

Sample some of the stuff being mentioned. Tasty is the dark side.

I was on a Steve Albini kick this past summer. I snagged up some "Big Black", "Shellac" and "Rapeman". Do check out Big Black's 1987 album "Songs About Fucking". The album is only a half-hour long but the first track slams everything right into gear and doesn't let up.

EDIT: Oops...no "songs of the decade" but Shellac's "Excellent Italian Greyhound" is a great album released in 2007. "The End Of Radio" is as close as you can get to a musical version of "The Omega Man".

--RB|!R|

I find it quite astonishing that there is so little overlap in our various lists. At a glance, Stiefmo, Kratz and Ken don't have a single album on their lists that the other has. I share one with Stief and Kratz and two with Ken. You'd think that within a genre you'd see a few albums being repeated, but no. I guess metal is just too varied. Or, music is much more subjective than film. Maybe it's both.



I just want to say "Thank You" for recommending two albums that fall within a genre known as "pigfuck". I might just give these a go solely for the pleasure I'd receive in tagging them for my music library.

You're welcome.

For a brief moment I even asked myself, "What is 'pigfuck'?'". Thank goodness for the 'net.

--RB|!R|