…what didn’t make the Top 20…probably for a very good reason too…

Rammstein > Mutter
Hold on to your puffy shirt - Rammstein go symphonic metal! Well, not exactly… Sidestepping their knack for the uber-cool electronics, industrial overtones, and hypnotically contagious song structures of the past, the hulking German sextet tests the waters of more straight ahead, somewhat orchestrated metal. The result - leider - is a pretty waist deep affair. About as half and half as it can possibly get with eleven songs, Mutter only matches its wonderfully flagrant, dramatic, Wagnerian moments of over the top symphonic pomp and glee with just as many of formulaic, go nowhere, lumbering heaviness. Sad, because the good stuff really shines. Overall though, I’d have to say ‘nein’ and move on to certain…other German bands.

Ten > Far Beyond the World
I for one am rather disappointed; an unabashed back to the roots move is just not was I was hoping for after the band's brilliant Babylon last year. Sure, the songs are catchy and there are more hooks here than a chain of fishing gear stores, but……yes, there is most definitely a but. Not at all bad and most definitely not the muddy sounding atrocity that Spellbound was, Far Beyond may not quite “have” what it takes to rub elbows with the likes of Beyond Twilight and the new Therion, but it is still destined to become simply "that album Ten released after Babylon..."

Edenbridge > Arcana
Is it wrong to be a smidge disappointed when a band follows a remarkable debut with a bland, uninspiring, and largely derivative (of themselves, granted) follow-up? Certainly not any more wrong than it is to completely write the album off after only one listen. So no more comments from me...maybe I'll (gasp!) review it some day when I actually have an urge to play it again...

Avrigus > The Secret Kingdom
Either I'm just hella tired while writing this or there’s simply nothing particularly worthwhile to say. Avrigus. Is an Australian band. Who play slow, atmospheric music. A bit like a heavy Dead Can Dance. Or The 3rd and the Mortal. And it's not half bad. Yup, it's a debut and for a two piece, they sound an awful lot like two musicians playing all the instruments they can and covering up all the other ones with supposedly sound-alike synths. Which don't really sound that much alike. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but...well, I suppose it kind of is. Also, the band's reliance on good ol' guitar distortion, which feels more out of place here than a Baptist out on Pride Day, insures that about half of the material ends up being rather forgettable. That being said, a couple of particularly beautiful moments here and there almost remind me of the late great Elend, so the potential for excellence sometime down the line is definitely there. Not something you need to run out and buy, but if you're ever in a store, probably worth picking up out of the rack to see what the first album of a potentially really cool band looked like...

Adagio > Sanctus Ignis
As dazzling and opulent as it is run of the mill, this holy fire is Adagio's strictly by the numbers entry into the realm of neoclassical metal® et al. The band enchants and amazes and then enchants and amazes some more with their downright phenomenal instrumental skills and neverending supply of sugary melodies, but they still have quite the ways to go in the songwriting department. The stuff sure is purdy, no doubt about that; it just happens to bring a new meaning to the term 'skin deep.' Totally, efortlessly enjoyable without actually being any good.

Gamma Ray > No World Order!
Nothing we did not expect from them and everything we did, Gamma Ray's latest still turns out to be one of the more pleasant surprises of the year. Go figure. Sure, it's all a bit silly, what with the Illuminati + secret conspiracies + mind control from your TV sets + the truth is out there...somewhere (out in sp...?) + a heavier, more 80s tinged sound, omigod!!!11!1!!, and the album is cheesier than a sack of Uriah Heep albums hidden in Wisconsin, but the Gammsters still manage to impress. The heavier approach actually bodes well for them, accenting the melodies while at the same time putting more meat on the songs' bones. And simply put, n.o.b.o.d.y does this particular style of music better than Kai Hansen and Co. Derivative though it may be, and derivative it is - very - No World Order! is as enjoyable a Euro power metal release as you're gonna find this year...

Ark > Burn the Sun

Zero Hour > The Towers of Avarice
A perfectly bleak little concept package that walks a very fine line between convoluted technicality and a sense for grandiose theater. For one thing, Zero Hour gets some major props for their decidedly one of a kind sound...I’ll go so far as to call it a soundscape even. The poetic lyrics on top of the raw, intense, almost hypnotically repetitive guitar lines paint an strikingly effective, minimalist picture of a hopeless, dying world; and much like the occasional piano soaked moments of drama that glide their way into the otherwise relentless musical onslaught, so does a glimmer of hope permeate the apocalyptic story...It all comes crashing down in a murky, tragic, downright horrifying climax though, and in so doing wraps up what is without doubt one of the more original releases of the year.

Blackmore’s Night > Fires at Midnight
The adventurin’ spirit is still nigh, as Blackmore’s Night get heavier and folksier. At the same time. And they’ve never sounded better. Problem is, while filled to the brim with excellent songs, Fires lacks those one or two truly unforgettable highlights that really, er, lit up the last two albums…

…the Top 20…

(20 to 11)

20. Kamelot > Karma
Slapping down yet another coat of polish onto their smooth-as-god-knows-what-else-is-this-smooth sound, Karma is in fact the best Kamelot release. Ever. While the consistency that was such a prominent feature on The Fourth Legacy is all but gone here - some material is definitely less than impressive - in its place are easily some of the best songs the band has written. Ever. And some of Khan's most dynamic singing. Ever. And then there is the trilogy. Oh yes, the Elizabeth threesome has all the twisted grandeur of Queen Bathory herself...a blood soaked epic that is as gruesome as it is tragic and downright poetic. "Have I found myself divinity...I'm no longer a slave to the vicious hands of time..." Khan sings with angelic splendor; not only do you hang on to every word…you believe him. A true magnum opus for the band if I ever heard one, the three songs serve up an incredibly tasteful arrangement of sheer, fragile beauty as well as fiery, hell bent aggression. Alas, much like the trilogy, the album is over with far too soon, but nonetheless remains one of the better pieces of music Khan has lent his tremendous talents to. With one of the best songs he ever sang on. (Oh, and yep…) Ever.

19. Sleepless > Winds Blow Higher

18. Ambeon > Fate of a Dreamer
Very cool stuff. Dreamy and airy and yes, ambient remixes of various Ayreon songs, pseudo-Enya style, complete with some downright gorgeous singing from 14 year old Astrid. Much in lieu of being basically a remix album, it ain't all that deep, but I’m digging it all the same (groan)...

17. Solefald > Pills Against the Ageless Ills
Hateful, nihilistic, obscene...oh, and with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Cornelius and Lazare’s delayed third disc weaves a surreal, Fellini on shrooms-like tale of brothers Cain and Fuck; a searing philosophical explication of man's duality and hopelessness (i.e. all those wacky topics Solefald have generally associated themselves with) delivered with typically Solefaldian aplomb. Gobs more focused and guitar-centric than, say, 1999’s completely off the deep end (in a good way) Neonism, Pills still manages to shock and surprise at every twist and turn with its genuinely offbeat and truly forward thinking (y'know - progressive) presentation. To quote the guys themselves (who say it particularly well in this instance), it's a "grand devouring fucking fire." And they also say it pretty darn well when they make it a point that you just gotta "hate yourself like Kate Moss" because "suffering is sexy" and "they fight an anorexic war." You get the idea. Except you really don't...

16. Leonard Cohen > Ten New Songs
"You win a while, and then it's done...your little winning streak..." Ah, Leonard Cohen. The broken glass, cigarette and whiskey laden voice, the relaxing beats, the achingly beautiful lyrics - it’s all here and it’s all for the taking. At 67, the man finally hangs up his trademark depression and tongue in cheek cynicism; having played the role of the prophet in 1992's masterful The Future, and his predictions having now come true, Ten New Songs finds Cohen in a much more relaxed, dare I say it...almost optimistic mode. Oh, there is still the occasional “heart wrenching ode to life”™ - A Thousand Kisses Deep might be one of his most poignant ever - but overall, underneath the shadows and the smoke, the man in black finally seems at peace. Content. Sad as it is to think, these Ten New Songs might be his last, and if that is in fact the case, he leaves behind a timeless legacy. "I'm wanted at the traffic jam, they're saving me a seat...I am wait I am and what I am is back on Boogie Street..." And makes one hell of a classy exit.

15. Finntroll > Jaktens Tid
Dash it all, this is just plain fun!! I'd like to toss out some trite sweet little nothing along the lines of "music is supposed to be fun, remember?" but the yucky, thick as cement pretentiousness of a band like Beyond Twilight alone is enough to stop me dead in my tracks. But wait, wait, I don't wanna sully this good space by bringing...[them] up...yet. So back on topic now, Finntroll take speedy, folksy black metal-ish, er, metal, spruce it up with polka (or is it humppa?) complete with all sorts of wild and wacky hoe downs, toss a whole bunch of drunken trolls into the mix, and voila. Epic, over the top songs about tipsy, warring trolls doing various epic, over the top things. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sudden urge to plunder and conquer. This troll's for you...

14. Depeche Mode > Exciter
After some two decades of pumping out their superb brand of manic-depressive booty shaking riffs, Depeche has finally decided to kick it. Kick back and relax, that is. So while this Exciter is for the most part anything but, what it is happens to involve some excellent laid back, dreamy songs. It's also still very much Martin Gore doing all the songwriting, so most of the tuneage here is catchier than a cold in late December. And infinitely more enjoyable...

13. Silver
Silver's debut does indeed have that argentine sparkle to it - it is slick, classy AoR with an edge, an ace up its sleeve like no other. And what might that be? Hard to say actually. But it does most certainly have something to do with the involvement of ex-Sisters of Mercy guitarist Christian Bruhn. He adds a certain dark, modern element to the sound, and man oh man does it gel. This is AoR that’s smooth and classy with the best of ‘em, but at the same time, completely devoid of the embarrassing oLdSkoOL 80s-ness that’s been known to spread its disease onto many an unwitting band. I for one am very impressed…

12. Virgin Black > Sombre Romantic

11. Anathema > A Fine Day To Exit
[tie] Katatonia > Last Fair Deal Gone Down
Anathema has finally come of age. Can I get a "Yay!!"?? Not to take anything away from the Brits' shoe gazing, "life has betrayed me once again," we're-sad-and-we-bloody-mean-it output of the past, but with A Fine Day to Exit, they have finally shed those last icky bits and pieces of forced metallizations (key word being forced, mind you) and gone the way of the Gathering, Amorphis, Katatonia, et al - a mature, identifiable sound that steers clear of any and every tag and label and genre-specific limitation out there. Judgement was their segue, and this very Fine Day marks the band's arrival. They’ve always had a certain eloquence about them, but it has never been this seamless before. There is still the melancholy and the torrents of emotion that are to be expected - it wouldn't be Anathema without 'em - but they are much more subtle and understated…refined; it’s about feeling between the lines, if you will. No longer poetic melodrama, but a real, suffocating experience. And effortlessly so. And then there's Katatonia. Honestly, not to undermine the wrist-slashing awesomeness of the band's latest, but pretty much all of what I said for Anathema applies here. Last Fair Deal sees the band maturing, forging a powerful, identifiable sound, and effortlessly cranking out some very real, very emotive, and all around just incredibly well written music. It was a simple matter of alphabet which of the two got the lengthier description.

…the Top 10…
(10 to 6)

10. Nikolo Kotzev’s Nostradamus - the Rock Opera
...because sometimes a two disc, hundred-plus minute rock opera is just what the doctor ordered. I'll spare you all the grisly details since I'm sure someone *cough* else has the album on their list as well and will do a much fancier job of excitifying the exploits of that famous physician-cum-prophet who spent his life running from the French Inquisition and then, er, dropped dead of dropsy. Yeah. Simply put, the album OWNS, not to mention provides one heckuvan exhilarating romp complete with some downright jaw dropping, intense moments of drama and dramatic moments of intensity (biggest kudos go out to the ever ubiquitous Jörn Lande for absolutely stealing the show from under its feet). Bottom line as far as all that good stuff is concerned, Kotzev had some seriously lofty ambitions to fulfill and darned if they all weren't realized here. That's the good news anyway. Now, then...on the opposite end of the spectrum, there is absolutely nothing on here to dissuade my claim - if I were to make one anyway - that the album wasn't actually released in, oh, 1986-ish. And while I for one don't at all mind that the music gets me hankerin' for some Cheers episodes, circa Shelley Long era, I do in fact mind that the sound does the same. The production, sadly, is more dated than a Bob Hope joke. Nowhere near as endearing though. The sound is flat and muddy, and has about as much punch in it as a bottle of straight vodka, with everything in the background that should be anywhere but and vice versa. There’s no excuse for something like that in 1998 when the album was initially slated for release, never mind 2001. That being said, it's an otherwise extraordinary, extremely ambitious package that more than deserves its top ten placement. Pity that with so little more it could have been that much more…

9. Judas Priest > Demolition
This is Judas Priest we're talking about here, who have the rather keen-o distinction of being my all time favorite band, so the fact that Demolition happens to be a juicy, rousing, and just a hella-fun slab of music doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Oh no. Over seventy minutes of metallic goodness that's both pure Priest and "we-won't-release-carbon-copies-of-Halford-era-Priest-just-to-appease-a-sad-sect-of-narrow-minded-fans" Priest. And that’s one positively demolishing combo that you just can’t go wrong with. Besides, it’s really quite the tribute to the goodness that Priest in fact is that with the all album's faults - the somewhat wrongheaded production, a…more than somewhat bored-sounding Tim Owens, a just plain general lack of cohesiveness (Demolition is more a collection of songs than an actual album, see) - the material is just too darn enjoyable in the end to warrant any real criticism on my part. To put it simply, the stuff rocks!! Watch out for the cliché straight ahead because………the Metal Gods are back!!

8. Shadow Gallery > Legacy

7. Radiohead > Amnesiac
Radiohead's companion piece to last year's Kid A is a dreamy, lazy, at the same time unsettling and downright dystopian good time chock full of abstract electronics, unintelligible vocals, and an overbearing sense of total tripped-outedness, with anything even remotely resembling orthodox song structure getting its butt promptly kicked out the door. Of course permeating all the zaniness is the band's penchant for utter genius, which insures that this Amnesiac won't be forgotten anytime soon...

6. Dave Matthews Band > Everyday
My first disc of 2001 this was. Went to the default #1 position, and some forty CDs later, residing at #6. How, pray tell, does that bode for the album’s quality? Either the year wasn't all that good, or Everyday really is. Care to guess which? Honestly now...about the only problem here is the misnomer of calling Everyday anything other than a Dave Matthews solo album. There is after all very little band here, complete with a whole lotta Dave. Hope you don't have a problem with the typically superb rhythm section being relegated to the background, because if you do, you will miss out on some of the band’s most memorable, polished, and insidiously catchy songs yet. And while not quite the dark, redemptive epic that was Before the Crowded Streets, Everyday still boasts a slightly pensive, intimate edge that gives the material a great amount of depth. Where the album satisfies the most is that it’s just one hell of a good time. Put it on day or night, and it will lift your spirits, guaranteed. Sometimes that’s all that really matters…

…the top 5…

5. Royal Hunt > The Mission

4. Garbage > beautifulgarbage
I just can't bring myself to fault ambition. Particularly when it comes to music. And even if nothing else, beautifulgarbage is as ambitious a pop record as you're gonna find this year. Except it's so much more. Tossing not only the kitchen sink into the mix but everything from the sounds of PJ Harvey and Portishead to the Beach Boys and even the oh so subtle Britney-isms, Garbage peels off their danger-grrl fronted electro-rock veneer and delivers an unforgettable, emotionally charged gem of a pop album. As usual, Shirley Manson is the star of the show, but her odes to love, death, and everything in between have suddenly gained a much needed dosage of credibility; she still tends to vamp her way with the best of 'em through most of the lyrics, but there is definitely something eerily penetrating and truly heartbreaking now when she sings "it took a cup of coffee...to prove that you don't love me..." Don't get me wrong, it's a fun and often very upbeat and uplifting disc, but its surprising insight and a resounding air of unpretentiousness definitely add that certain special something, that if not somewhat downbeat is at least very reflective. Most definitely not a Version 3.0, the disc is chock full of stirring, sincere music, and is a beautifulstepinagreatnewdirection…

3. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds > No More Shall We Part
With his latest, Nick Cave finally marks the advent of middle age; No More Shall We Part is something of a treatise to being well within that four-o spectrum. It is fraught with the same countless contradictions and paradoxes as, well, existence...life itself; full of both somber beauty - Nick Cave style - and jarring atonality - ditto - No More is at the same time rousing, wrenching, beautiful, ugly, loathsome, and in the end absolutely endearing in its down to the core human approach. Almost entirely eschewing his typical knack for the weird and the offbeat, the violent and the gruesome, Nick Cave paints the almost seventy minutes with all the tragic warmths and fuzziness of a Leonard Cohen album, only bleaker and more psychologically exhausting, but at the same time more vibrant and comfier. If that makes any sense, this album's for you. Cave's stripped down lyric approach here is nothing short of poetry, at times brutally cynical, often despondent, but also dripping with beauty and a heartfelt honesty; and yet just like some of life's darker moments there is a very finely etched sense of unease in its repose. The lyrical entourage is backed by wonderful sporadic orchestrations that altogether make for a very pensive, lounge room-like atmosphere. And a terrific album...

2. Amorphis > Am Universum
Underneath the grooves, the 70s prog vibes, the delicious sax work, the psychedelic keyboards, Am Universum is first and foremost a rock album. Not so much rock, the label, but rather rock as that timeless essence that has made legends out of The Doors, the Stones, Zeppelin. Not to say that Amorphis sounds anything like them - nothing could be further from the truth in fact - but they have what so many bands today lack - soul. They have that touch; real songs with real immediacy; that feeling of an actual band effort. The emotions run as deep as the melodies and in the end you have an absolutely splendid example of what truly good songwriting is all about…

1. Braindance > Redemption
[tie] Saviour Machine > Legend - Part III:I
[tie] Ulver > Perdition City - Music to an Interior Film + Silence Teaches You How to Sing EP + Silencing the Singing EP
I figure too in-depth a description might sell these rather fantastic albums short, right? Well…for the sake of this particular year-in review, yep. So in brief, here we have an epic, genre defying, blissfully over the top tale of redemption that also happens to be the most fun I’ve had at my stereo all year long, bar none; a dramatic, gargantuan continuation to an even grander, end of the world-scale trilogy; and a compelling, highly inclusive listening experience - a tour de force of sound and avant-garde trickery that culminates into the most intriguing, fully realized aural experience of the year. At the risk of sounding trite, I'm not gonna go on and on about how all three are testaments to true artistic vision and passion and dedication and all that. I'll just ever so slyly infer it J What matters is that the three albums are nothing short of incredible, and I'd have a hell of a time picking 2001’s hands down winner were it not for this one other disc that was released this year…

…and the one you’ve been waiting for…

Lacrimosa > Fassade
...Fassade is a night at the opera, the world a stage, and you, dear listener, perched above in the stars looking down below on yourself front and center. The cast, its hero, villain, Greek choir...all you, all a figment of your innermost self, your most intimate collection of =you=. Fassade is a mirror, reflecting beauty and splendor, chaos and tranquility, pain, despair, hope, its reflection intimate and universal, partial and absolute. True. Fassade is a scrapbook, its songs frighteningly revealing snapshots of life taken when her back was turned; an infinitely poignant, at times devastating gaze into your soul. Fassade is dramatic, epic scale catharsis on every possible level; an orchestrated revelation. Most of all though, Fassade is indeed a facade, a timeless piece of living, breathing art masquerading as some mere album of the year...

…the sPeCiAL, random awards…

(for fairness sake, these only apply to the bands/albums that are on my list. except for those times when they don’t)

Top 10 Songs of the Year…
10. The Museum of Iscariot - Virgin Black
09. Mother Father - Dave Matthews Band
08. Sweet Nurse - Katatonia
07. Elizabeth - Kamelot
06. The Sorrowful Wife / We Came Along this Road - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
05. Life in a Glass House - Radiohead
04. First Light - Shadow Gallery
03. A Thousand Kisses Deep - Leonard Cohen
02. Cup of Coffee - Garbage
01. Warum So Tief - Lacrimosa

The Best Debut of the Year award:
Virgin Black - Sombre Romantic…with Sleepless’ Winds Blow Higher being a ridiculously close runner-up.

The Most Striking Vocal Performance of the Year award:
(Jörn Lande disqualified on the basis of singing for Beyond Twilight, which is just beyond ironic since that might be his best performance ever……hey, I don’t make the rules!! Well, I guess I do in this case J)
5. Erik Rosvold [Zero Hour]
4. Rowan [Virgin Black]
3. Eric Clayton [Saviour Machine]
2. Vincent Cavanagh [Anathema]
1. Tilo Wolff [Lacrimosa]
"...Nur einmal jetzt und immer wieder..." - 'nuff said

The Best Album Cover of the Year award:
Lacrimosa - Fassade
I'm not a fanboy, dammit! J Fassade's Gucci gone goth cover is not only a sight to behold, it's also incredibly imaginative and does a superb job of tying into the disc's bleak, epic narrative of doomed love in a cynical, apathetic world (how's that for a mouthful?)...

The Most Tasteful Use of Trumpet in a Song award:
Warum So Tief [Lacrimosa]

The Audiophile (Classiest Production Job) award:
5. Braindance - Redemption
4. Anathema - A Fine Day to Exit
3. Garbage - beautifulgarbage
2. Ulver - Perdition City
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part

The Best Music Vid of the Year award:
Garbage - Androgyny
'There's sexy...and then there's the Androgyny video' is kind of like saying 'there's a pile of pebbles...and then there's the Grand Canyon.'

The Best Re-Release of the Year award:
The (almost) Complete, Completely Remastered Judas Priest Catalogue - can you say hells to the yeah?!

The Wish They’d Just Put Out Already (Soooooo…how about a new album?) award:
Devil Doll…ok, two albums rumored to be complete, some 850+ leftover minutes from the Dies Irae sessions, and not a peep since 1996. Definitely adds to the mystique though…

The Top 5 Tsk, if Only I'd Have Gotten These in Time (i.e. albums I have on mp3 that I'm too lazy (cheap) to go out and buy) award:
5. The Tea Party - Interzonemantras
4. No Doubt - Rock Steady
3. Pete Yorn - Musicforthemorningafter
2. Björk - Vespertine
1. Angizia - 39 Jahre Für Den Leierkastenman

The Wish I Could Come Up With Something to Write About award:
5. Shadow Gallery - Legacy
4. ARK - Burn the Sun
3. Royal Hunt - The Mission
2. Virgin Black - Sombre Romantic
1. Sleepless - Winds Blow Higher
Especially the last two. Sleepless is this incredibly promising new two piece out of Israel and Virgin Black is a genuinely frightening, awe-inspiring new band from the…but wait, I just can’t come up with anything to write…

The Mommy, Make the Bad Man Go Away (Creepiest Album of the Year) award:
Virgin Black - Sombre Romantic

The Worst Band Name Ever award:
Hoobastank
There's only so many ways of asking "what the bloody f**k were they thinking?!" Sometimes all you can do is sigh and thank God that at least hey, the music's bad too!

The Yeah Baby, Yeah!! (Best Trend of the Year) award:
Writingalbumnamesasoneword…Say, maybe if the disc was called thedevil’shalloffame……how great it would have been…

The Please Stop Making (Worst Trend of the Year) award:
The back to the roots, nod to the old school, heavier, we are still metal, we are not willing to take risks, we don’t want to lose our close minded fan base, a pox on creativity(!!) sound. OK, so Gamma Ray wasn't painfully disappointing and/or bad. What's TEN's and Therion's excuse?

…And finally…the year’s biggest, most epic battle for underachievement, ineptitude, and just plain sorry-ass-ness…

2001’s Hall of Shame