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Best albums

1. God Dethroned - Passiondale
What can I say that I didn't already say in my review? A stunning return to the Blackened Death form they perfected with drummer Roel Sanders' last appearance on Bloody Blapshemy. One of my most anticipated albums of 2009, it didn't fail to impress. In a year that mainly favored the heavier acts, Passiondale stands above the rest.

2. Amorphis - Skyforger
Amorphis struck gold when they acquired Tomi Joutsen as a vocalist, having now released 3 near-perfect albums in succession (not that their back catalogue is anything to scoff at, either!) I was pleasantly surprised to see it this high at the top of my list - while I knew it would be good, I didn't know it would be THIS good.

3. Epica - Design Your Universe
It was going to take a lot for Epica to impress me again this year. The Divine Conspiracy was my favorite album of 2007, and I wasn't sure what they could do to go from there. Then Design Your Universe came out. In a nutshell, the album is Epica turned to eleven. Mark Jansen's growls are more fierce, Simone's voice is more graceful, the orchestral parts are more bombastic, and the choirs sound more powerful than any Epica album before it. Bravo, Epica, bravo.

4. Inmoria - Invisible Wounds
In a year of Power Metal releases that didn't quite stand up, this release atleast kept the genre's heart beating. When it was announced last year that a Bollnas Metal "supergroup" of sorts was forming featuring past & current members of Morgana Lefay and Tad Morose, fronted by ML's own Charles Rytkonen, I was on board from the get-go. In a year without any hint or whisper from the Morgana Lefay camp, a separate release with Chulle on vocals was almost as good. Channeling the Thrashy, Dark Power Metal feel of Morgana Lefay, with some obvious Tad Morose input as well, this album hits you fast and it hits hard.

5. Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest
I am honestly surprised to have Nile up here. Sure, Ithyphallic and all of it's predecessors were good, but ever really Top 10 material? I don't think so. This is surely their best work yet, and after my first listen I recall sitting there, absolutely dumbfounded. I couldn't believe how good it was, even on the first listen. Nile have released their masterpiece with Those Whom The Gods Detest, which I'm sure will be considered a "must-have" album for Death Metal fans down the road.

Runner-ups: Hypocrisy - A Taste of Extreme Divinity, My Dying Bride - The Lies I Sire, HDK - System Overload, Ensiferum - From Afar, Katatonia - Night is the New Day

Biggest disappointments

- Lacuna Coil - Shallow Life
Not particularly a bad album, Shallow Life is good in it's own right. It's just that it fails to stand up to their back catalogue. Up until this point, every album they've done was exceptional in my eyes. Even Karmacode, which got mixed reviews, was a favorite of mine when released. Lacuna Coil sort of strayed off their path with Shallow Life, and not exactly for the best either.

- JuuKun Misses Maryland Deathfest VII (And Other Shows)
In May, Maryland Deathfest VII was set to take place, with Pestilence, Asphyx, and Bolt Thrower's first show in the US in 15 years each headlining a night, with a stellar roster of other fantastic Death/Black bands. I had my ticket, I had paid for my busfare, and I had it coordinated to be rooming with a friend of mine from down south who was going up to Maryland for the show. Then, it's a week before the show, I couldn't get in touch with him, and I couldn't afford a hotel all by myself without someone to split the costs. I didn't find out what had happened until a few weeks after the event had passed, and the personal issues that kept him from making it to the show. While MDF was the biggest of these disappointments this year, there were other shows I had plans to go to that I also regret missing (ProgPower USA X, Enslaved/Opeth, Gojira, Vader, etc...)

- Power Metal Fails To Impress
Primal Fear - 16.6 (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead), Sonata Arctica - The Days of Grays, Stratovarius - Polaris, Warmen - Japanese Hospitality, Dark Moor - Autumnal. Five albums which weren't all terrible, but were all disappointing in their own right. This was a very sub-par year for Power Metal, and five albums which I was interested in being absolutely underwhelming didn't help. Had they come from different artists, some of these releases may have been acceptable, but from the bands that put them out they were terribly, terribly disappointing.

- John "Midnight" McDonald passes away
In a year that had an unseemly amount of "celebrity" deaths in the media, one of the less-famous of those to pass this year hit the hardest. Former Crimson Glory vocalist Midnight passed in July of this year, and Metal lost one of it's finest vocal talents. R.I.P. brother, legends never truly die.

- Morgana Lefay's hiatus continues
Not too long after the release of 2007's "Aberrations of the Mind", Morgana Lefay seemed to drop off the map and all became silent in their camp. Rumors flew about the band splitting up, and it's true they never really acknowledged their state in any public form that I can recall. It took an e-mail from yours truly for me to be informed that they were, in fact, not split-up but only on a break while Chulle worked with Inmoria. While I thought the Inmoria debut this year was exceptional, I would have much preferred the return of Morgana Lefay. Maybe in 2010...

Best live concerts

1. Destruction (Worcester, Massachusetts)
My personal favorite Thrash band, and probably the most intense show I've ever been to. The entire crowd went absolutely nuts for these Thrash Gods. With the lack of any "-core" support bands, the show lacked any real egos and it was obvious people were there for a good time. From the first few notes of "Soul Collector" to the end of "Total Desaster", Destruction blew the roof off of the intimate, upstairs stage of the Palladium and set Worcester on fire.

2.Moonspell (New York, New York)
I had always heard that, as a live vocalist, Fernando is nearly unmatched in stage presence and raw emotion. I couldn't wait to experience it for myself, and they delivered. The amount of himself that Fernando puts into his performance is like nothing I've ever seen, and with a majority of the set pulled from the "Wolfheart" and "Irreligious" albums made this a night I'll never forget.

3. Primordial (Worcester, Massachusetts)
On the original tour posters, Primordial (on their first US tour) were set to be headlining Paganfest America Part II. I was outraged when they added Korpiklaani as headliner and, without explanation, moved Eluveitie over Primordial. Some time after, Eluveitie dropped off the tour, bumping Primordial back up to the slot they deserve (even I wouldn't argue that, popularity-wise, they should be headlining over Korpiklaani). Nemtheanga & Co's heartfelt, fierce performance was only beaten half a year later by Moonspell.

4. Ensiferum (Worcester, Massachusetts)
My final show of the year. Moved from the large downstairs stage to the intimate upstairs at the very last minute, my fourth time seeing Ensiferum was finally to be my first time headlining, after the original Paganfest USA was crammed into part of the local New England Metal and Hardcore Festival when it came through in 2008 and each band only had 30 minutes to play. They played every song off of From Afar (a phenomenal album to be sure), except for "Heathen Throne", and squeezed in a good handful of old favorites into the same set. Very glad to see the band delivering such a good live set and gathering a following over here.

5. Darkane (Worcester, Massachusetts)
Sound problems aside, seeing Darkane this year was huge for me. Having been a big fan for a few years, and never really thinking they were going to do much touring in the US, when it was announced they would be supporting Soilwork I was ecstatic (a touring partner suggestion/request I had made to Speed a year prior, coincidentally). The vocals being almost inaudible didn't harm the set as I knew all of the words anyways, and the upstairs stage was a perfect location for this night.