My Top 20 (in no particular order) of 2000-2009
OPETH: BLACKWATER PARK (2001). A ‘Watershed’ moment for Opeth, brought their sound into the new millennium, after a decade of blackened, semi-progressive Death. It basically wrote the book for the band’s music in the 2000’s.
THE AMENTA: OCCASUS (2004). Aussie Industrial Black Metal chaos, and probably the ‘scariest’ music these ears have ever heard! Nihilistic and yet superbly constructed brutality. An Australian Metal release for the ages.
KARNIVOOL: SOUND AWAKE (2009). Have had this just long enough to have it tipping out their debut ‘Themata’ from 2005. Dense, complex and resolutely progressive. And apparently still just a stepping stone in their development as a band. The mind fairly boggles…
STRAPPING YOUNG LAD: ALIEN (2005). Could have gone with the ‘SYL’ album from 2003, since I loved that album too, but Alien just edges it out due to the fact that it returned to the out and out industrial carnage of ‘97s seminal ‘City’, as opposed to SYL’s slightly more organic approach. And VERY nearly matches it!
PORCUPINE TREE: DEADWING (2005). In a similar way, I could have chosen ‘In Absentia’, but Deadwing just brought all of PT’s disparate elements together to best effect. They’re a progressive wonder, and this is their finest hour in my opinion.
MELODYSSEY: THE TWO WINDOWS (2007). A real surprise packet, to be sure. Very accessible for Alternative Rock, but the voice of diminutive powerhouse Lance Howard and the heavy but tasteful drumming of Luke Williams (also in Dead Letter Circus) gives this Brisbane four piece the edge it needs. Oh, plus the songs are just plain GOOD!
DREAM THEATER: TRAIN OF THOUGHT (2003). Same as SYL and PT above, I could have picked a few, but since I’m a raving Metalhead at heart and this is their heaviest moment to date, it gets the nod. Undoubtedly the greatest Progressive Metal band in history.
GOJIRA: FROM MARS TO SIRIUS (2005). This French outfit has either ingested ridiculous amounts of music in their time, Metal and not, or have completely shut themselves off from the world like musical hermits, because what’s coming out of them sounds like no one else. And no one else sounds like them. Truly ‘Avante Grade’.
DEVIN TOWNSEND: ACCELARATED EVOLUTION (2003). Another agonizing choice. I could have gone with Teria or Synchestra or any of his others, but this takes the cake due to, and similar to the newie Addicted, it’s just chock full of massive, inspirational Rock anthems. Underpinned by Devin’s sense of idiosyncrasy. Huge!
SOILWORK: A PREDATOR’S PORTRAIT (2001). At the absolute forefront of the early-mid 90s Melodic Death Metal explosion, these Swedes could play their arses off, and write ridiculously catchy tunes at the same time. This album is the perfect melding of their earlier, slightly more thrashy leaning, and the commercial beast that they became.
MNEMIC: PASSENGER (2007). This album just completely captured me. I am someone who loves melody amid the brutality, and these Danes managed to accomplish this as well or better than just about anyone, ever. After many listens you start to realize that virtually every guitar line, vocal line and groove on this record is a hook. To me, it’s the definitive modern Metal album. Just superb.
OPETH: GHOST REVERIES (2005). Opeth’s bio reads ‘this band exists in a genre of one’, and it’s no idle boast. Everything came together like a dream for them on this record. Light and shade like has never been achieved before, and the songs were just enormous. Awesome!
MUDVAYNE: LD50 (2000). Few albums cut quite as deep as this one. It’s one of those works that sounds as if it was a completely ‘immersing’ experience for those involved, and this vibe is readily passed onto the listener. A long, harrowing and truly absorbing experience, and they haven’t come within a million miles of touching it since.
COG: THE NEW NORMAL (2005). More or less the start of the Aussie alternative Rock boom. A stunning effort from three blokes from Bondi in Sydney. Powerful, lyrical, political, amazing. An Australian landmark.
DIMMU BORGIR: DEATH CULT ARMAGEDDON (2003). The absolute pinnacle of Black Metal. The grandiose orchestral and choral flourishes only add to the sheer magnificent power of this work of dark art. Pure Satanic majesty. Breathtaking.
NIGHTWISH: ONCE (2004). Similar to DCA, only for female fronted/Gothic Metal. Orchestra and Choir melded with Rock/Metal band seamlessly into a perfectly realized whole. Epic compositions that send shivers down the spine. And standing triumphantly out the front of it all is the stratospheric and operatic voice of Tarja Turenen. Sad to see her go….
SYNTHETIC BREED: CATATONIC (2007). Ridiculously and vastly underrated Aussie Cyber/Industrial Metal band. Complex but catchy songs that blast you with polyrhythmic fury. These guys make Fear Factory sound like the Pussycat Dolls. Hopefully they can make their make on the world soon.
DAGOBA: WHAT HELL IS ABOUT (2006). A French Cyber/Industrial band with a sound that resembles the coming of Armageddon! Their latest album was a shade disappointing by comparison, but this was mindblowing. Check it out.
CYNIC: TRACED IN AIR (2008). A true Enigma. Totally unique. It sounds like heaven has come to earth in the form of a progressive Metal band. So ambitious, and yet so cohesive and listenable. Sublime.
DEVIN TOWNSEND: ADDICTED (2009). Has only been out for a month or so, but it’s just so damn bombastically GOOD that it demanded inclusion. The man is a genius, I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again. Monumental.
Could probably name 50 or more honourable mentions, and tried to keep it to 1 or 2 per artist. VERY tough job.
OPETH: BLACKWATER PARK (2001). A ‘Watershed’ moment for Opeth, brought their sound into the new millennium, after a decade of blackened, semi-progressive Death. It basically wrote the book for the band’s music in the 2000’s.
THE AMENTA: OCCASUS (2004). Aussie Industrial Black Metal chaos, and probably the ‘scariest’ music these ears have ever heard! Nihilistic and yet superbly constructed brutality. An Australian Metal release for the ages.
KARNIVOOL: SOUND AWAKE (2009). Have had this just long enough to have it tipping out their debut ‘Themata’ from 2005. Dense, complex and resolutely progressive. And apparently still just a stepping stone in their development as a band. The mind fairly boggles…
STRAPPING YOUNG LAD: ALIEN (2005). Could have gone with the ‘SYL’ album from 2003, since I loved that album too, but Alien just edges it out due to the fact that it returned to the out and out industrial carnage of ‘97s seminal ‘City’, as opposed to SYL’s slightly more organic approach. And VERY nearly matches it!
PORCUPINE TREE: DEADWING (2005). In a similar way, I could have chosen ‘In Absentia’, but Deadwing just brought all of PT’s disparate elements together to best effect. They’re a progressive wonder, and this is their finest hour in my opinion.
MELODYSSEY: THE TWO WINDOWS (2007). A real surprise packet, to be sure. Very accessible for Alternative Rock, but the voice of diminutive powerhouse Lance Howard and the heavy but tasteful drumming of Luke Williams (also in Dead Letter Circus) gives this Brisbane four piece the edge it needs. Oh, plus the songs are just plain GOOD!
DREAM THEATER: TRAIN OF THOUGHT (2003). Same as SYL and PT above, I could have picked a few, but since I’m a raving Metalhead at heart and this is their heaviest moment to date, it gets the nod. Undoubtedly the greatest Progressive Metal band in history.
GOJIRA: FROM MARS TO SIRIUS (2005). This French outfit has either ingested ridiculous amounts of music in their time, Metal and not, or have completely shut themselves off from the world like musical hermits, because what’s coming out of them sounds like no one else. And no one else sounds like them. Truly ‘Avante Grade’.
DEVIN TOWNSEND: ACCELARATED EVOLUTION (2003). Another agonizing choice. I could have gone with Teria or Synchestra or any of his others, but this takes the cake due to, and similar to the newie Addicted, it’s just chock full of massive, inspirational Rock anthems. Underpinned by Devin’s sense of idiosyncrasy. Huge!
SOILWORK: A PREDATOR’S PORTRAIT (2001). At the absolute forefront of the early-mid 90s Melodic Death Metal explosion, these Swedes could play their arses off, and write ridiculously catchy tunes at the same time. This album is the perfect melding of their earlier, slightly more thrashy leaning, and the commercial beast that they became.
MNEMIC: PASSENGER (2007). This album just completely captured me. I am someone who loves melody amid the brutality, and these Danes managed to accomplish this as well or better than just about anyone, ever. After many listens you start to realize that virtually every guitar line, vocal line and groove on this record is a hook. To me, it’s the definitive modern Metal album. Just superb.
OPETH: GHOST REVERIES (2005). Opeth’s bio reads ‘this band exists in a genre of one’, and it’s no idle boast. Everything came together like a dream for them on this record. Light and shade like has never been achieved before, and the songs were just enormous. Awesome!
MUDVAYNE: LD50 (2000). Few albums cut quite as deep as this one. It’s one of those works that sounds as if it was a completely ‘immersing’ experience for those involved, and this vibe is readily passed onto the listener. A long, harrowing and truly absorbing experience, and they haven’t come within a million miles of touching it since.
COG: THE NEW NORMAL (2005). More or less the start of the Aussie alternative Rock boom. A stunning effort from three blokes from Bondi in Sydney. Powerful, lyrical, political, amazing. An Australian landmark.
DIMMU BORGIR: DEATH CULT ARMAGEDDON (2003). The absolute pinnacle of Black Metal. The grandiose orchestral and choral flourishes only add to the sheer magnificent power of this work of dark art. Pure Satanic majesty. Breathtaking.
NIGHTWISH: ONCE (2004). Similar to DCA, only for female fronted/Gothic Metal. Orchestra and Choir melded with Rock/Metal band seamlessly into a perfectly realized whole. Epic compositions that send shivers down the spine. And standing triumphantly out the front of it all is the stratospheric and operatic voice of Tarja Turenen. Sad to see her go….
SYNTHETIC BREED: CATATONIC (2007). Ridiculously and vastly underrated Aussie Cyber/Industrial Metal band. Complex but catchy songs that blast you with polyrhythmic fury. These guys make Fear Factory sound like the Pussycat Dolls. Hopefully they can make their make on the world soon.
DAGOBA: WHAT HELL IS ABOUT (2006). A French Cyber/Industrial band with a sound that resembles the coming of Armageddon! Their latest album was a shade disappointing by comparison, but this was mindblowing. Check it out.
CYNIC: TRACED IN AIR (2008). A true Enigma. Totally unique. It sounds like heaven has come to earth in the form of a progressive Metal band. So ambitious, and yet so cohesive and listenable. Sublime.
DEVIN TOWNSEND: ADDICTED (2009). Has only been out for a month or so, but it’s just so damn bombastically GOOD that it demanded inclusion. The man is a genius, I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again. Monumental.
Could probably name 50 or more honourable mentions, and tried to keep it to 1 or 2 per artist. VERY tough job.
CAN YOU BELEIVE IT!?
AMOR FATI 
