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My greatest fear in assembling
Decibel’s review of the ’00s wasn’t so much the debates, from the editor arguments and endless messageboard threads that would ensue upon our final list’s release into the wild. It wasn’t even the insane amount of additional hours we’d all be forced to flog in order to complete what is essentially a 13th issue of the magazine on an annual production cycle that barely allows for 12 volumes. No, my biggest concern was that the extreme music recorded in the ’00s couldn’t match the power and glory of the groundbreaking ’80s, or even the venerable ’90s. Those of you reading this who were born during the Clinton administration, trust me—this is what old people actually worry about. Anyway, looking back on our list of these 100 indispensable recordings of the aughts, I’m not really sure what I was so worried about. Four records from this nearly completed decade have already been inducted into our hallowed Hall of Fame. And I can divulge that a couple more are currently in the works for 2010 induction. Speaking of our Hall of Fame (aren’t we always?), we hope you’ll enjoy the bonus HOF action in the form of a pair of our favorite previous inductees: Converge’s Jane Doe (expanded from its original version) and Mastodon’s Remission. So, yeah, it turns out the ’10s (or whatever bullshit we’ll be forced to call it) will have a ridiculously high bar to meet after all. Can I start worrying about that next month? —Albert Mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
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All That Remains Anvil Arch Enemy Black Sabbath Candiria The Chariot Children of Bodom Coheed and Cambria Dee Snider The Dillinger Escape Plan Dio Disturbed Early November
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DIR EN GREY
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100
We’ve been doing this since October of 2004 now, 63 issues over nearly five and a half years. While that’s covered more than half of a decade that has witnessed an unimaginably astronomical mushrooming of subgenres and styles in extreme music, it would have been nice to commend what was blowing our minds from the early part of the ’00s. Well, not mine, ’cause I was busy losing my virginity in my mid-40s to Train’s Drops of Jupiter, but our staff ’s as a whole, who have proven to be much more trustworthy. The way this compilation works, like all that have preceded it,
is simple—we asked each of our writers for a list of their top 40 albums of the 2000s, mistakenly processed the results through Decibot, yet still came up with 100 groundbreaking, enduring, kick-ass masterpieces across a vast spectrum of heaviness. (And System of a Down.) We’ve always championed pretty much everything metal has to offer unless it’s too goth or too Aryan, but rest assured, neither are represented (much] in this lovingly crafted document, replete with personalized lists of the honored artists’ top five records of the oughts. Now celebrate the guilt, live the storm and party hard. Andrew Bonazelli
greatest metal albums of the decade 5 t o p 10 0 o f t h e 0 0 s
top
100 greatest metal albums of the decade
99
my dying bride The Dreadful Hours peacevi lle ( 20 0 1)
t
slayer
Gin
The British mopers spelunked as pr o fo u n d lo r e (2 009) far as possible down the rabbit hole on 1998’s experimental 34.788%... Complete. One of the greatest long-distance Luckily, 65.212% of their fanbase didn’t collaborative efforts in the history of cut rope and run. Although, had My Dyshow business, Cobalt work like the only ing Bride continued with or expanded two components of a small, extremely on the doom-hop of “Heroin Chic” powerful, hive mind. Separation can’t on return-to-form effort The Light at stop them. Living in two different cities the End of the World, the votes for The might have even helped the duo make Dreadful Hours would’ve gone to Para2009’s Gin a xenophilic black metal miledise Lost stinker Believe in stone. Denver afforded Nothing. And nobody–not multi-instrumentalist my top 5 even Albert, Scott Koerber Erik Wunder safety and or me–wants that to hapAndrew comfort enough to work pen. The thing about My closely with producer Dying Bride circa-late ’90s Dave Otero, in addition My Dying Bride, is that they were the only to writing and playing all Holy Doom Trinity band of Gin’s music. Baghdad Iron Maiden, to not venture into FloydDance of Death was less kind to singer Phil ian daydreams (Anathema) McSorley, whose career Heaven and Hell, or Depeche Mode-induced barely granted the U.S. The Devil You Know Europop (Paradise Lost). Army Sergeant time for Mastodon, They stuck to their deslyrics and vocals. The arLeviathan peration-filled guns and, rangement makes for zero Celtic Frost, ultimately, came out a redundancy, along with a Monotheist winner. As polarizing as rawness-to-refinement it is, 34.788%... Complete ratio in a state of dazzling Virgin Black, did afford the Bride some flux. Not necessarily how Requiem: Fortissimo experimental wiggle room. we’d expect, either; while “The Raven and the Rose” he plays drums like a cross and “The Deepest of All between Jason Roeder and my top 5 Hearts” are tried and true, fucking Budgie, Wunder but the opening title track makes a point of pumping (with its shoegaze shimgutbucket cosmic squall mer), “Le Figlie Sella guitar into pretty much Cobalt Tempesta” and the beautievery song. As befits a dude ful “Black Heart Romance” whose life hinges on shootHigh on Fire, found the West Yorkshire ing before he gets shot, Surrounded by Thieves blokes at their most inMcSorley is master of the spired. While it is Aaron lightning hone. In metal, Tool, Lateralus Stainthorpe’s (sad) beauty/ where belief systems ofDax Riggs, If This (vicious) beast vocals that ten mean so much and Is Hell Then I’m command attention, guiso many of those systems Lucky tarists Andrew Craighan come secondhand, his lifeClutch, Blast and Hamish Glencross as-art, brute-force-existenTyrant are the driving force betialist/nihilist religion is hind The Dreadful Hours. like a breath of fresh blood. Neurosis, A Sun That Never Sets chris dick rod smith
Craighan
hough Slayer added three new chapters to their post-millennial canon, it was this past year’s World Painted Blood that affirmed the veteran act still had plenty of hellfire left in their bellies. Compared to its predecessors, the album is more electric World Painted Blood than 2001’s flat, mid-paced God a m e r i c a n (2 0 0 9 ) Hates Us All and less contrived than 2006’s Grammy-winning Christ Illusion. This return to form by the thrash legends seems both methodical and inherent–and is likely due to the band’s decision to write material during recording, not before–ensuring spontaneity and a rawer vibe that’s built upon the classic Slayer sound. Much like the deranged madmen they describe in their visceral narratives, Slayer ritualistically dissected some of their greatest hits and reanimated them as the 11 mutated clones found on World Painted Blood. The quick-hitting “Unit 731” shares a bastardized riff with “Chemical Warfare,” the eerie “Playing With Dolls” comes off as a sequel to “Dead Skin Mask,” and the title track is forged around the skeleton of “Angel of Death.” The lyrics are as lurid as ever–with serial killers, anti-war dissension and blasphemy remaining on the forefront of their gory psyches. In the end, World Painted Blood feels as tough, yet familiar, as a well-worn motorcycle jacket. zena tsarfin
100
98 cobalt
6 t o p 10 0 o f t h e 0 0 s
erik
wunder
photo by neil visel
my top 5 Julie
Christmas Battle of Mice/ Made Out of Babies
T 97
battle of mice A Day of Nights n e u r o t (2 0 0 6 )
MF Doom, Operation: Doomsday Melvins, Houdini Live
oward the end of Battle of of Light. The call seems like a good sur2005: A Live History of Gluttony and Lust rogate for the battles that must’ve raged Mice’s one and, unfortunately, only full-length, 2006’s A Day of during the recording of this arty slab of Keelhaul, Keelhaul’s Triumphant Return to Nights, you can hear a recording of singer bipolar alt-metal. Even at its softest, such Obscurity Julie Christmas on the phone with a 911 as when Christmas whisper-sings, “the Shellac, Terraform operator. Christmas, distraught to the hand on your skin / brings a war to your (1998) point of caterwauling, seems to be in the face,” the album is ripe with tension. The Whatever music midst of a domestic dispute, the specifics band, which also includes Pere Ubu’s Tony comes on while I get of which she has been reluctant to discuss. Maimone, uses volume rather than tempo to watch Battlestar Galactica But the Made Out of Babies frontwoman, to ramp up their mid-tempo roar (think who alternates, vocally, between Björk and Heroes meets Through Silver in Blood), and harpy, has been quite public about the breakdown of Christmas responds with the most fractured scream her relationship with Battle of Mice guitarist and key- this side of a nervous breakdown. Has dissolution ever boardist Josh Graham, who has since formed A Storm sounded this good? brent burton
Having come as close as they ever would to perfecting their brand of melodic death metal with 1999’s Colony, In Flames found themselves at a crossroads. Where to go from here? They could have easily kept on pleasing the fans by faithfully adhering to that very winning formula; after all, in metal there’s never any shame in keeping the music within the same template. However, the band took the road less traveled on their fourth full-length, and while Clayman wasn’t exactly innovative, it was a watershed moment. Unlike their ’90s work, Clayman wasn’t about flash or aggression–it was about Clayman discipline. The rhythm riffs were nu c l e a r bl a s t (2 0 0 0 ) straightforward, either open chords or muscular crunches, the lavish twin guitar melodies by Jesper Strömblad and Björn Gellotte were textured and often underscored by synth, Daniel Svensson’s tempos were reined in and Anders Fridén started tinkering with different vocal approaches other than the usual death metal screams. Through that simplified approach, In Flames found themselves instantly liberated, the scintillating opening trifecta of “Only for the Weak,” “Pinball Map” and “Bullet Ride” proficient examples of how a band could explore more refined melodies and not lose an ounce of credibility in the process. adrien begrand
96
In Flames
When a record that’s out for only a few months is considered one of the decade’s best, it needs more than an iconic name and a cool comeback narrative. And OX is much more than just the pleasant return of some old-timers. A blend of early guitarin-a-cement-mixer schizophrenia, midlife experimental disharmony and twilight retro-sludge, the album is free from whatever extreme music micro-trends happened in the last 10 years. The band locks together for every deformed time change while Sean Ingram retains the same pulverizing thunderclap scream that inspired a OX thousand vocalists. And that’s what r elapse ( 20 0 9 ) this is–nothing less than pioneers returning to influence a new generation that thinks metalcore started with Killswitch Engage. But Coalesce defied even the most optimistic expectations by integrating early 20th century Americana into their sound. Something with the potential to sound ornamental or generic ends up genuinely eliciting scenes of a faded, bygone era. Of course, these visions quickly turn into the feeling of getting your goddamn head scalped. The blind optimists of the world annoyingly assure us everything happens for a reason. But if Coalesce’s messy collapse and decade-long hiatus produced a record like OX, maybe they’re right. shane mehling
7 t o p 10 0 o f t h e 0 0 s
95 Coalesce