Top albums of the 2000s

(Note: I wrote this list at the end of 2009. This is one of my most popular articles on Helium.com, so I wanted to reproduce it here with proper formatting, etc. However, if I made the list over it might be slightly different today, as my tastes are constantly evolving)

As the decade draws to a close, it is time to reflect on the journey of heavy metal over the last ten years. When the decade started, metal was a purely underground form of music. The rock music charts were dominated by nu-metal (not actual metal), punk rock, and the ironically-named alternative brands of music. Now you can turn on your local rock station and hear bands like Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold, and Bullet For My Valentine bringing their commercialized versions of heavy metal to the masses. As the mainstream has moved more towards metal, metal has simultaneously moved towards the mainstream─causing the two to meet somewhere in the middle.

Behind all that, though, have been the types of metal bands that have kept the genre alive for so many years despite never receiving any mainstream recognition. Bands that follow the hard-working model of the pioneers─the Iron Maidens, Judas Priests, and Megadeaths of our modern era. Bands that seek to create metal music that is inspired, powerful, and masterful. Bands that seek to create art in their music. Bands that seek the rip your face off with the intensity of what they have created. These bands have perfected the art form known as the album.

When creating this list, my intention was to make a top-ten list. However, when I looked at my final list of nine albums and realized that every single one of them was a flawless piece of work, I knew I couldn’t dilute the perfect composition of this list. There is no real reason to add another album that is just almost perfect just for the sake of rounding out my list. Instead, I present to you the nine most flawless albums to come out since Y2K.

#9 Facing The Thousand Light This City (Prosthetic, 2007)

Not only is Laura Nichol the most intense female vocalist/frontwoman ever, she might be the most intense of any gender EVER! Throw in Brian Forbes’ and Steve Hoffman’s furious neoclassical dual-assault, Mike Dias sounding like he is trying to break his bass strings, and Ben Murray seemingly growing a third arm for this performance and you have one of the most impressive collections of unknown talent ever. This band’s biggest strengths are Nichol’s vocals and the band’s songwriting prowess. Murray is the main songwriter for the band and he takes cues from a wide range of sources, from Iron Maiden to Slayer to The Black Dahlia Murder. TOP TRACKS: Exile, The Eagle

#8 Deathalbum Dethklok (Williams Street, 2007)

What’s that you say? Dethklok is a joke band and their music doesn’t belong on a ‘best of’ lists, much less of the decade? You’re wrong. Allow me to lay out the facts for you. Fact #1: Brendon Small graduated from the Berklee College of Music and he knows music. Fact #2: This is the highest-selling death metal album of all time! Fact #3: Gene Hoglan plays drums on this album. ‘Nuff said. With catchy tunes that will drill their way into your brain, and not a weak song on the album, this is not only one of the best metal albums of the decade, but because of its popularity it is also one of the most important. Brain-dead American Idol generation, meet real heavy metal. Try not to have an aneurism. TOP TRACKS: Castratikron, Go Forth And Die

#7 The Odyssey Symphony X (InsideOut, 2002)

Though not quite as good as their follow-up (we’ll get to that one too), this album has the distinction of having the best progressive metal song of all time in the title track. At over twenty-four minutes, the level of complexity and intricacy demonstrated on “The Odyssey” is without equal. The whole song flows together so seamlessly - never for even a nanosecond becoming boring, despite its incredible length. Michael Romeo does an unbelievable job weaving the symphonic element in with the heavy metal ones, and Russell Allen’s vocals absolutely crush all. The rest of the album is exceptional as well, but this album is worth the price of admission simply for the title track. And yet somehow, this is not even this band’s best album this decade! TOP TRACKS: The Odyssey, King of Terrors

#6 With Oden On Our Side Amon Amarth (Metal Blade, 2006)

This had to be my toughest pick of the whole list. The absolute gods of consistency this decade, Amon Amarth literally have five different albums that could arguably have made this list. As time goes on, their newest album Twilight of the Thunder God could be judged as their best this decade, but Oden is already a legendary album in its own time. The real deciding factor, though, for picking this album over the others is found in the track order. “Valhall Awaits Me” is the perfect opening track, being solid and heavy, but neither the best nor the heaviest song on the disc. Likewise, “Prediction of Warfare” is the perfect track to end with, with its epic length and crushing vocals and melodies. And every track in between just feels right. As far as crafting an album as a whole entity, Oden is just slightly better than anything this great band has done this decade. TOP TRACKS: Cry Of The Blackbirds, Gods Of War Arise

#5 Brave New World Iron Maiden (Sony, 2000)

This album is astounding on so many levels. How often has a band reunited with its seminal members (Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith), played the exact same style they did twenty years earlier, and managed to come up with their best album yet?! Never, that’s how often. And yes, I did just say this was a better album than the great classics like Number Of The Beast and Powerslave. Those albums may have had a few better songs, but they lacked the incredible consistency in song quality that is displayed on Brave New World. And boy, Dickinson has lost absolutely nothing over the years as he sings his ass off on this album! And with three guitarists you might fear that they would get in each others’ way, but the guitar work on this album is clean and ordered. All around an amazing effort from probably the most essential heavy metal band of all time. TOP TRACKS: Dream of Mirrors, Out Of The Silent Planet

#4 Beyond The Permafrost Skeletonwitch (Prosthetic, 2007)

Iron Maiden meets Slayer. Catchiness meets brutality. Old school meets new. This is the album of the perfect dichotomies. Much like how Slayer or Black Dahlia Murder do it, these Ohio rockers manage to cram more unbelievable heavy metal riffs, melodies, solos, growls, and tempo changes into thirty-four minutes than any other band could fit into an hour. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Iron Maiden on a day where they took steroids, mutated into something from Resident Evil, and then went on a violent killing spree, this is the album for you. TOP TRACKS: Within My Blood, Fire From The Sky

#3 Train of Thought Dream Theater (Elektra 2003)

I know this will be an unpopular pick. The expected pick for Dream Theater’s best this decade would be Octavarium. But come on, just listen to this album, will you? Dream Theater fans hated it because it was too heavy and not many other people ever gave it a chance, but Mike Portnoy himself said that he thought this was the album where everything came together for them. And I happen to agree with him. Heavy enough to make it onto a metal list, cerebral enough to be progressive, and eclectic enough to be Dream Theater, this is really Portnoy and gang’s most complete metal album to date. Petrucci especially gets to show off his insane skills ways he only ever demonstrated elsewhere on Liquid Tension Experiment. He shreds, riffs, and solos his way through the album like a man who actually has something to prove (which is impressive because at this point he has nothing to prove). More importantly, the band’s songwriting talents are as outstanding as they have ever been here, and even after 11+ minutes you will find yourself wishing songs like “In The Name of God” and “Endless Sacrifice” didn’t end. A true masterpiece by arguably the most musically talented band in the world. TOP TRACKS: Endless Sacrifice, This Dying Soul

#2 Kingdom of Might Woe of Tyrants (Metal Blade, 2009)

Maybe I am getting too hasty placing such a recent album this high─especially when said album is by complete unknowns and relative newcomers in southern Ohio’s Woe Of Tyrants. But I have been listening to this album ever since it came out eleven months ago, and every time I put this disc on I am completely floored by what is stampeding from my speakers. Vocalist Chris Catanzaro prowls back and forth between a thrashy scream to a guttural death metal growl that will shake your bowels with its ferocity. The rhythm section matches that ferocity as bassist Adam Kohler and drummer Jonny Roberts lay down an unending and seemingly inhuman stream of notes that is constantly changing form and direction like a sidewinder that moves 600 miles an hour. And on top of that all you have Chris Burns and Matt Kincaid burning their guitar strings up with their mind-blowing neoclassical dual assault. Add to that the band’s impeccable talent for writing catchy and purposeful melodies, well-timed tempo changes, and generally crafting songs as cohesive works of art and you have yourself the second-best album of the decade! Listening to this album must be what going up against an MMA fighter would feel like. Never has your soul being thrashed like a rag doll ever felt so good! TOP TRACKS: all of them!

#1 Paradise Lost Symphony X (InsideOut, 2007)

I don’t possess the words to do justice to this album. This is perfection in every way you can possibly think of─songwriting, production, lyrics, theme, consistency, instrumental playing, artwork, and vocals. If I had to pick one aspect that stood above all the others, though, it would be Russell Allen’s monstrous vocal work. Listening to his performance on songs like “Set The World On Fire (Lie Of Lies)” and “Domination” are akin to being hit by a runaway freight train, while his soulful emotion on the title track and “Seven” have the power to bring a tear to your eyes. And he hits every range of sounds in between those extremes, cementing this album as the single greatest vocal performance of all time. Besides Allen’s vocals, you also have Romeo’s Malmsteen-influenced neoclassical guitar shredding, Pinella’s beautiful piano melodies, and Rullo’s furious drum assault. Even bass player Michael Lepond gets to shine with a bass solo on “Domination.” I could go on and on about all the great aspects of this album─the well-written lyrics, the fact that every song is a masterpiece in its own right, the way every instrument can be heard clear as crystal─but you’ll just have to discover everything this album has to offer on your own. I mean, come on, this is the best album of the whole effing decade! TOP TRACKS: Set The World On Fire (Lie Of Lies), Paradise Lost

Honorable mentions: Nocturnal by The Black Dahlia Murder, Spirit of Ukko by Kiuas, The Way of the Blade by The Ottoman Empire, every album by Amon Amarth, Scar Symmetry, and Dark Tranquillity.

One final thought: what a year 2007 was! With four albums in the top-9 (including #1), and two honorable mentions, that was clearly the best year of heavy metal this decade, and maybe the best year metal has had since sometime in the mid-eighties.