| 5.0 classic |
| Agalloch The Mantle |
| Tip the cup, feed the fire. And forget about useless fucking hope... |
| Agalloch Ashes Against the Grain |
| Desolate forests, fallen snow, dying bloodbirds, Agalloch's fortress has never burned brighter. This is their magnum opus to date and the best metal album of the new millennium. |
| Overmars Affliction, Endocrine...Vertigo |
| Destroy all dreamers who dream of the same thing more than once... Alas! I have dreamed of this album a thousand times because it's one of the best in metal ever. |
| The Seven Mile Journey Notes for the Synthesis |
| As close to perfect post-rock as you'll get from any band not named Godspeed You! Black Emperor or A Silver Mt. Zion. Enter a mind trying to come to terms with its insanity. |
| 4.5 superb |
| *shels Plains Of The Purple Buffalo |
| A journey across a land very different than our own, and a mind-altering experience that shows the heights post-rock/metal can soar to. Like the air conditioning inside your house that greets you after a day spent in hundred degree heat, Butterflies on Lucy's Way is musical therapy. |
| Acherontas Ma-IoN 'Formulas Of Reptilian Unification' |
| There is some seriously sinister shit going on here. Really, most black metal albums are relatively mild compared to this. Would strongly advise not playing this with grandma in the car. The vocals are strong, the production value is high, the percussion is everywhere (their drummer is very talented). This is a top notch dark arts album. |
| Ahab The Giant |
| For a genre that's usually a hard pill to swallow for even the most open-minded listeners, funeral doom doesn't produce music this well done very often. |
| Alcest Écailles De Lune |
| The crowning achievement of black metal and post-rock fusion, creating one of the most gorgeous and emotional albums I've ever heard. Few blastbeats, and absolutely no pounding "D" chords played over and over (retreat!, Whitechapel fans, retreat!). Thank you Neige and co. for this work of art. |
| Cormorant Metazoa |
| Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place |
| Falls of Rauros The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood |
| One of the best and most criminally underrated black metal albums of this millennium. |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! |
| Loss Despond |
| The last track, "Silent and Completely Overcome," features guest vocalist Brett Campbell (from Pallbearer), who provides the only clean vocals on the album, and man, they're fantastic. "I do not remember depression such as this" will echo in your mind long after it fades into The Irreparable Act. |
| Maybeshewill Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony |
| Pallbearer Sorrow And Extinction |
| In this harsh world of deception, I will stand up once more, and find within myself the strength to stumble again. |
| pg.lost Key |
| Solstafir Otta |
| SubRosa (US) More Constant Than The Gods |
| Summer Fades Away We Meet the Last Time, Then Departure |
| Excellent post-rock with Eastern folksy influence. |
| We Lost the Sea Departure Songs |
| "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave." |
