Agreed. I only picked up that Black Cobra album two weeks ago, but it fucking smokes! On the other hand, I haven't heard 3/4's of those other records so I can't really comment. Mr. Red knows his shit, but I can't get into the Black Metal. I can appreciate it, but it's not my bag. Is Decibel that much of a heavy/black metal/death metal/weird metal mag? I never knew it. No Red Fang? It was good but I guess there were a lot of other albums that beat it. I just didn't hear em...

No Indian, and no mention of Indian.

That Pitchfork list is better. They got #1 & #2 right.

Indian is #23 on Pitchfork.

Methinks the omission of Red Fang is probably due to them being more rock-focused and friendly sounding over a lot of these other bands. These kind of metal reviewers that pay attention to the underground generally like the extreme, genre bending, and weird stuff.

These lists are fun and such but they're inherently flawed. What's the criteria, sales? Obviously (and thankfully) not, but is it consensus among a few metal nerds in a magazine pressroom or on message boards? These two examples (dB and PF) share entries, obviously, but if there was a clearer consensus they'd match more closely. Also, petty squabbles and animosity among scenebeard labels and bands evidently factors in, too...

Personally, these fuckin' year-end lists serve to remind me of albums I may have forgotten to check out and that's about it.

this.

I like how the pitchfork page has song samples. Easy to sample stuff I missed or didn't know about.

Given the explosion of solid-to-great bands in the Pacific Northwest, I'm somewhat surprised by their lack of representation in the top whatever-the-fuck lists thus far...i know quite a few of them are still flying under the radar (i.e. Norska, Mongoloid Village, Elitist, Lord Dying, Wizard Smoke, Megaton Leviathan) but still...

Jimmy, Riimy, same person really.

Wizard Smoke is from Georgia. You might be thinking of Wizard Rifle.

On the Pacific Northwest: friggin' Witch Mountain. I'm biased, but yeah. Considering the number of local releases this year, perhaps I'll make my own NW top ten list. I'll need to wait and hear the new Sandrider first.

Otherwise, oh look, Atriarch and YOB made both lists.

^ Ha!...got my wizards crossed...meant Wizard Rifle, but have Wizard Smoke too...nice to see Witch Mountain get picked up by PL as well...

The new Brutal Truth is a terrible, terrible album.

I wasn't clear. Both lists snubbed WM.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2011/ ... ms-of-2011

But NPR didn't. What alternate universe did I just step into?

I know Decibel reviewed Fucked Up's "David Comes to Life", but that seemed like one of their attempts at grabbing some Pitchfork readers or something, similar to how Pitchfork tosses in a few token metal reviews now and then.

Fucked Up has a frontman who looks and sounds like he belongs in a sludge band (fat, bald, blarggggg-voiced), but the rest of the band look like cast offs from Franz Ferdinand or something. And the whole rock opera aspect of that album is totally impenetrable as far as story. Bottom line: Fucked Up is neither extreme nor metal.

Machine Head's in it so it can't be a good list.

Good thing media and record labels aren't in bed with eac.....oh wait.

Mastodon at #3, Rwake at #39, and Atlas Moth didnt even crack the top 40?

yeesh.

Yet you post, wallow in strife

Decibel's Editor-in-Chief, made two posts on the Decibel forum defending that inclusion. I haven't heard MH in years so I wouldn't know what they sound like now. From what I've read, they've gone back to the power-groovish sort of thrash? There are worse directions.

There aren't worse bands

I havent seen a list worth a shit other than a few bands here and there, but they rank low enough for me that they dont even make my top 20, so go figure. I don't do a 'straight up metal one' anyways, because I dont just listen to just metal.

I think the better lists are forthcoming (The Inarguable, Hammer Smashed Sound and the artists feature they usually run with best of) are usually a lot better than this Decibel crap. NPR has surprised me a bit, as they seem to have injected some youth in their music page, but still, some utter crap on there.

Not sure if Cvlt Nation does a yearly list, but that could also be interesting given their content and musical tastes....bummed that Cosmo Lee isn't at Invisible Oranges any longer as his lists usually directed me to some cool tunes - usually old-school death metal - I had not yet heard.

The new Mastodon album is overrated. It's decent but not album of the year material.