County is a genre that has been bastardized so much by the mainstream that people forget that it can be home meaningful, wonderful art.

A by the numbers, but really solid modern metalcore album. The performances are really good and it's what makes it stand out in this oversaturated subgenre.

I've been trying to sit this one for nearly five years. Today was the first time I sat through it in its entirety, and I really like it.

A quite unhinged and savage album, which was the main reason why it took me so long to get through it. If you're not used to music that sounds like this, you won't like it.

Even by a lot of normal tech death standards, this is really weird album. Every song is over 8 minutes and they make sure all of that time is filled with as much chaos as ... read more

Thanks to @Lady6ov6Fire for the recommendation!

Beatdown hardcore isn't my favorite metal genre or anything, but it's interesting to see and even more primitive version of this simple, hard-hitting genre. What I find interesting is that it very much draws inspiration from groove metal and death metal from this era, hence the harsher vocals and the rough production.

I think I like the bands that this inspire more than this, but it's still a very good, very fun album that makes ... read more

A great stoner, progressive rock album that had me engaged the whole way through.

What I've always liked about Elder is their more groove focused direction to their prog styles. It's jamming that has a lot of substance to it, and it is a joy to listen to.

I wish it had some more heavy elements, but I can't complin too much when everything here was really top-notch stuff, even if it is a bit long.

Not exactly what I expected from these guys, but not at all surprising. These guys meld really spacey ambient stuff into their "normal" stuff as is, so going all in on a spacey ambient project makes sense.

Honestly? I dig this a lot. I had it on in the background while I was working today, and I reached a flow state in the process.

I view it in a similar vein to Minecraft Alpha soundtrack, where it's very much meant to sit in the background while something else is going on, and ... read more

I was going to stay up and listen to this on release, by my ass be employed and I had to go to bed. :(

Anyways, another really good release by Converge. There is a lot of weird things this album does that I haven't heard the band do before, and I'd say most of them work out. You also still get that unhinged, drywall eating aggression you know and love the band for.

That said, I like Love Is Not Enough more. I just like the more straightforward approach that album does, and in my ... read more

Kurt Ballou never fails to produce a song that makes you want to eat drywall.

The Blackening features more of the band's trash-metal roots (that's good), along with a lot of songs that push past the nine-minute mark (that's also good).

The Blackening is an album that shows you can have your cake AND eat it too, meaning you can have a really entertaining, groovy metal album that is still complex and filled with creative ideas. Even though it is quite long, I was engaged the whole way through.

A Farewell to Arms is the big highlight for me. One of the best ... read more

"Who we whackin' boss?"

Who the fuck are these guys, I thought I ordered goons?

In the space of groove metal, I like to view Machine Head as the chill coworker who's pretty consistently good at their job (bar a few fuck ups) with some standout career highlights. On the flip side, Pantera is the guy who used to be chill and great at his job but is now a useless freak, but the boss refuses to fire them for some reason.

Burn My Eyes is my favorite groove metal album of the 90's. Yes, Pantera is a much more influential band, but I've always preferred ... read more

Who wins:

Incomprehensible horrors beyond the human imagination that stink like buns?

-or-

Four indoctrinated goobers blasting Disposal Unit?

Listened to this when it initially came out, and I wanted to come back to it. It's still quite good, even if it has a few problems.

Love how unhinged this is. It's LOUD, and you really get that feeling throughout the entire runtime, and at just 36 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome.

The instrumentals are also really cool, and in my eyes, are the most consistent aspect of the album. From heavy to calm, angry to sad, they check all the boxes for me and is the real emotional ... read more

I've been recommended this album a lot over the last few years. Was now in the mood to check it out, and I'm glad I did.

Pretty cheesy, but I am a fan of cheese. I really loved a lot of things this album did, as it did a really good job of balancing that cheese with a meaty edge.

The growls are amazing and are some of the best I've heard in a while. I really appreciated how much they fit into every aspect of the instrumentation, from the brutal metal sections to the symphonic ... read more

Thanks to @Grunge_Man for the recommendation!

It's another 80's thrash album. I really don't have more to say beyond that fact.

Is it objectively good? Yes, but other bands have done better during this time and so have Kreator themselves.

I wanted a bit more, but I can't complain too much since it's a quick listen and the songs do kick quite a bit of ass.

Thanks to @Kacper for the recommendation! Sorry it took me a while to get to this one.

Reminded me a lot of the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack. It's a very eerie, but beautiful IDM album that takes the listener to a lot of different places with very few words.

Apparently, this is also a concept album? I haven't done any research yet, but I am very interested into finding the 'meaning' into what I heard, as this thing is fucking weird man.

It is quite long, but I was very ... read more

So I plan on redoing my Death discog dive later this year, as I want to update those reviews and do a full ranking, but I really wanted to do a rereview of Symbolic as I find the discussion around this album to be very interesting.

This is one of three metal albums on AOTY that has a user score that sits above a 90. Master of Puppets doesn't even have that high of a score, and that is arguably the most well known metal album of all time.

So that leaves me with an interesting question: ... read more

Flightless bird my ass. This mf fly as hell!

There is a part in Saving Face that has the exact same riff as Flying Whales by Gojira, and I was about to make fun of these guys for it, but this project came out 3 years beforehand and I'm kind of stunned by that and now I don't know what to think.

This song is older than most AOTY users.

Myself included.

Really goddamn good, especially the first half.

Love how dark, brooding and emotional this is. It's written and performed so well, you never realize that you're listening to songs that are 10+ minutes in length.

I find Dia Artio and Vastness and Sorrow to be near perfect songs for the genre. Genuinely must listen tracks if you are a black metal fan.

The last two songs are great as well, I just loved the first wo more.