Messick’s Top 100 Albums of 2016

Many believe that we’re past the “golden age” of extreme metal.  Many claim we’ll never have death metal as good as the nineties, but I think that’s bullshit.  There’s tons of incredible music coming out each year, but it doesn’t get as much attention as individual albums did in the nineties because we’re in the digital age now.  Anyone can make music, and anyone can hear music for any corner of the globe.  There’s too much to listen to and too little time to listen to it, so it isn’t possible for a handful of albums to be agreed upon as the best in the metal community.

I love music.  But I recognize that music is subjective, so it is worth noting that the most powerful music to me is brooding death metal, caked in atmosphere and dissonance.  That should give some context to my top picks (although I enjoyed a lot of stuff that isn’t death metal too, as you’ll see).  My top list includes demos, EPs, and splits, since I don’t think an album should be excluded based on length.  I wouldn’t get caught up in the order of the list.  What should be taken away, is that all of these are killer albums worth checking out if you’re into extreme metal (and if you’re not, still check out the Plini album).   This is certainly not a complete list, and I’m sure it would change in a few years, as some albums stick with me more than others.

There’s a lot of text here, so I’ll limit my explanation for each of the first twenty albums to five words as to why you should check it out.
Here it is, my top 100 albums from 2016:

1. Chthe’ilist - Le Dernier Crépuscule
   
   Cryptic and with sexy bass.
2. Blood Incantation – Starspawn
   
   Death metal from Dark Descent.
3. Deathspell Omega - The Synarchy of Molten Bones
   
   It met impossibly high expectations.
4. Ihsahn – Arktis.
   
   Ihsahn can do no wrong.
5. Gorguts - Pleiades’ Dust
   
   Giant song with Martyr’s drummer.
6. Mare Cognitum - Luminiferous Aether
   
   Beautiful one-man atmospheric black metal.
7. Zhrine – Unortheta
   
   Sister band to Svartidauði delivers.
8. Khthoniik Cerviiks - SeroLogiikal Scars (Vertex of Dementiia)
   
   Re-released in 2016. Worth it.
9. Schammasch – Triangle
   
   Three discs of avant-garde black.
10. Memoriam – The Hellfire Demos
    
    Yeah, Bolt Thrower is back.
11. Convulsing – Errata
    
    If Portal went death doom.
12. Vulture – Victim to the Blade
    
    No way this is 2016.
13. Ash Borer - The Irrepassable Gate
    
    U.S. black metal that’s good.
14. Voidspawn – Pyrrhic
    
    Nasty, nasty, nasty death metal.
15. Defeated Sanity – Dharmata
    
    Cynic and Death had sex.
16. Mithras – On Strange Loops
    
    Are we in outer space?
17. Wormrot – Voices
    
    Grindcore good enough for goats.
18. Dehumanized – Beyond the Mind
    
    When the slams are good.
19. Alcest – Kodama
    
    Post-black (insert pretentious descriptors here)
20. Plini – Handmade Cities
    
    Not a death metal album.
21. Mitochondrion / Auroch – In Cronian Hour
22. Xenomorphic Contamination – Colonized from the Inside
23. Sorcier Des Glaces – North
24. Virvum – Illuminance
25. Hannes Grossmann – The Crypts of Sleep
26. Teitanblood – Accursed Skin
27. Vainaja - Verenvalaja
28. Inverloch – Distance/Collapsed
29. Vanhelgd – Temple of Phobos
30. Clouds – Departe
31. Grave Miasma – Endless Pilgrimage
32. Denouncement Pyre – Black Sun Unbound
33. Swans – The Glowing Man
34. Nightmarer - Chasm
35. Behold… The Arctopus – Cognitive Emancipation
36. Nucleus – Sentient
37. Svartidauði - Hideous Silhouettes of Lynched Gods
38. Krypts – Remnants of Expansion
39. First Fragment – Dasein
40. Ripper – Experiment of Existence
41. Phobocosm – Bringer of Drought
42. Hobbs’ Angel of Death – Heaven Bled
43. Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us
44. Black Sabbath – The End
45. Antaeus – Condemnation
46. Oranssi Pazuzu – Värähtelijä
47. Martröð - Transmutation of Wounds
48. Vektor – Terminal Redux
49. Dead Congregation – Sombre Doom
50. Witch Vomit – A Scream from the Tomb Below
51. Animals as Leaders – The Madness of Many
52. Nerodia – Vanity Unfair
53. Ulcerate – Shrines of Paralysis
54. Fetid Zombie - Epicedia
55. Inquisition - Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith
56. Acherontas / Slidhr – Death of the Ego / Chains of the Fallen
57. Dark Funeral – Where Shadows Forever Reign
58. Mephistopheles – In Reverence of Forever
59. Katatonia – The Fall of Hearts
60. Warfather – The Grey Eminence
61. Borknagar – Winter Thrice
62. Profanal - Supreme Fire
63. Onirism – The Well of Stars
64. Interment – Scent of the Buried
65. Wormed – Krighsu
66. Desaster – The Oath of an Iron Ritual
67. Sentient Horror – Ungodly Forms
68. Watchtower – Concepts of Math: Book One
69. Malignancy – Malignant Future
70. Flvx Capacitor / Gnarly Death Split
71. Neurogenic - Ouroboric Stagnation
72. Dawn of Dementia – Immolation of Avernis
73. Sacramental Blood – Ternion Demonarchy
74. Rhapsody of Fire – Into the Legend
75. Breeding Filth – Perverse Devolution
76. Cult of Fire – Life, Sex & Death
77. Verberis – Vexamen
78. Panphage – Drengskapr
79. Embalmer – Emanations from the Crypt
80. Hellish God – Impure Spiritual Forces
81. Bölzer – Hero
82. Eternal Champion – The Armor of Ire
83. Winterfylleth – The Dark Hereafter
84. King – Reclaim the Darkness
85. Inanimated Existence – Calling from a Dream
86. Katalepsy – Gravenous Hour
87. Weekend Nachos – Apology
88. Uškumgallu - Rotten Limbs in Dreams of Blood
89. Gatecreeper – Sonoran Depravation
90. Départe - Failure, Subside
91. The Zenith Passage – Solipsist
92. Lycus – Chasms
93. Draugnim- Vulturine
94. Martyrdöd – List
95. Obscura - Akroasis
96. Abnormality – Mechanisms of Omniscience
97. Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder
98. Asphyx – Incoming Death
99. Kroh – Altars
100. Nervosa – Agony

Occult Deceiver – Dark Ritual would likely be on the list, but I haven’t heard all of it yet.  I own well over a thousand albums, hundreds of shirts, and I highly encourage all fans to support the bands they enjoy.  Buy merchandise and support live music!