Estimated reading time: 4 minute(s)
Dear Arse & Ziggles:
As always, I can’t wait for the Arsies to begin. As the suspense builds, I thought I should point out something you may already have noticed: The Arsies is anti-establishment. And that’s not just an opinion statement, I can prove it. Nick Cusworth at Heavy Blog Is Heavy aggregated the best-of metal lists from major metal websites (Stereogum, Loudwire, Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound, SPIN, Decibel, LA Weekly, Apple Music, Metalsucks, Metal Injection, Metal Hammer, and Pitchfork) to produce one mega list representing the views of the “metal establishment.” The following table compares the results of this list with the 6th Arsies. The lack of overlap is astounding. There are only 8 matches (25% of the Arsies list), and one of them, the new Iron Maiden, was not even on the original list.
| Rank | Band -- Album | 6th Arsies | Boyd | Taken from: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Baroness -- Purple | http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2015/12/23/2015-best-of-meta-list/ | |||
| 10 | Bell Witch -- Four Phantoms | ||||
| 32 | Between the Buried and Me -- Coma Ecliptic | 1 | |||
| 16 | Bosse-de-Nage -- All Fours | ||||
| 47 | Bring Me the Horizon -- Thatâs the Spirit | ||||
| 18 | Cattle Decapitation -- The Anthropocene Extinction | ||||
| 48 | Cloud Rat -- Qliphoth | ||||
| 21 | Clutch -- Psychic Warfare | ||||
| 34 | Dead to a Dying World -- Litany | ||||
| 1 | Deafheaven -- New Bermuda | ||||
| 26 | Elder -- Lore | ||||
| 49 | Enslaved -- In Times | 1 | |||
| 43 | Failure -- The Heart Is a Monster | ||||
| 13 | Faith No More -- Sol Invictus | ||||
| 22 | False -- Untitled | ||||
| 8 | Ghost -- Meliora | 1 | |||
| 41 | Halestorm -- Into the Wild Life | ||||
| 6 | High on Fire -- Luminiferous | ||||
| 4 | Horrendous -- Anareta | ||||
| 38 | Intronaut -- The Direction of Last Things | 1 | |||
| 12 | Iron Maiden -- The Book of Souls | 1 | 1 | ||
| 24 | Khemmis -- Absolution | ||||
| 25 | Killing Joke -- Pylon | ||||
| 30 | Krallice -- Ygg Huur | ||||
| 29 | Lamb of God -- VII: Sturm und Drang | 1 | 1 | ||
| 11 | Leviathan -- Scar Sighted | ||||
| 45 | Lucifer -- Lucifer I | ||||
| 19 | Marilyn Manson -- The Pale Emperor | ||||
| 7 | MgÅa -- Exercises in Futility | ||||
| 37 | Mutoid Man -- Bleeder | 1 | |||
| 17 | Myrkur -- M | ||||
| 14 | Napalm Death -- Apex Predator -- Easy Meat | 1 | |||
| 44 | Noisem -- Blossoming Decay | 1 | |||
| 23 | Obsequiae -- Aria of Vernal Tombs | ||||
| 5 | Panopticon -- Autumn Eternal | 1 | |||
| 9 | Paradise Lost -- The Plague Within | ||||
| 28 | Prurient -- Frozen Niagara Falls | ||||
| 20 | Refused -- Freedom | ||||
| 27 | Royal Thunder -- Crooked Doors | 1 | |||
| 42 | Sannhet -- Revisionist | ||||
| 36 | Sarpanitum -- Blessed Be My Brothers | ||||
| 31 | Satan -- Atom by Atom | ||||
| 33 | Skepticism -- Ordeal | ||||
| 35 | Slayer -- Repentless | 1 | |||
| 46 | Slugdge -- Dim & Slimeridden Kingdoms | ||||
| 2 | Tribulation -- The Children Of The Night | ||||
| 50 | Vastum -- Hole Below | ||||
| 40 | Vattnet Viskar -- Settler | ||||
| 15 | VHÃL -- Deeper Than Sky | ||||
| 39 | Windhand -- Griefâs Infernal Flower | ||||
| Matches | 8 | 6 |
* Taken from http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2015/12/23/2015-best-of-meta-list/
On a much less important note, I also included a list of the 50 original studio albums I bought in 2015 for comparison. My tastes also come out as anti-establishment, but this may largely be due to the fact that I listen to more Japanese metal than anyone probably should.
| Rank | Group | Title | This is a list of the original studio albums released in 2015 that I bought. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ? | Abigail Williams | The Acusser | I don't know if I will ever have time to rank them, but I removed two poor choices to make it a list of 50 albums. | |
| ? | Agonist | Eye of Providence | ||
| ? | Aldious | Radiant A | ||
| ? | Amorphis | Under the Red Cloud | ||
| ? | Armageddon | Captivity and Devourment | ||
| ? | Avatarium | The Girl with the Raven Mask | ||
| ? | Battle Beast | Unholy Savior | ||
| ? | Black Dahlia Murder | Abysmal | ||
| ? | Blind Guardian | Beyond the Red Mirror | ||
| X | Chaos Magic | Chaos Magic | ||
| ? | Children Of Bodom | I Worship Chaos | ||
| ? | Chris Caffery | Your Heaven Is Real | ||
| ? | Crossfaith | Xeno | ||
| ? | Crystal Lake | The Sign | ||
| ? | Cyntia | Woman | ||
| ? | Devil You Know | They Bleed Red | ||
| ? | Enslaved | In Times | ||
| ? | Fear Factory | Genexus | ||
| ? | Gacharic Spin | Music Battler | ||
| ? | Ghost Cries | Melum Primus | ||
| ? | Helloween | My God Given Right | ||
| ? | Huntress | Static | ||
| ? | Iron Maiden | The Book of Souls | ||
| ? | Kamelot | Haven | ||
| ? | Kiske & Somerville | City of Heroes | ||
| ? | Lamb of God | Sturm Und Drang | ||
| ? | Mary's Bood | Bloody Palace | ||
| ? | Melechesh | Enki | ||
| ? | Metal Allegiance | Metal Allegiance | ||
| ? | Moonspell | Extinct | ||
| X | Motor Sister | Ride | ||
| ? | Motorhead | Bad Magic | ||
| ? | Napalm Death | Apex Predator-Easy Meat | ||
| ? | Nightwish | Endless Forms Most Beautiful | ||
| ? | Once Human | The Life I Remembered | ||
| ? | Parkway Drive | Ire | ||
| ? | Raglaia | Creation | ||
| ? | Ravenscry | The Attraction of Opposites | ||
| ? | Rie a.k.a. Suzaku | Noah's Ark | ||
| ? | Royal Thunder | Crooked Doors | ||
| ? | Serenity In Murder | The Higest of Dystopia | ||
| ? | Sigh | Graveward | ||
| ? | Slayer | Repentless | ||
| ? | Soilwork | The Ride Majestic | ||
| ? | Soulfly | Archangel | ||
| ? | Stratovarius | Eternal | ||
| ? | Survive | Human Misery | ||
| ? | Swallow the Sun | Songs of the North I, II, & III | ||
| ? | Symphony X | Underworld | ||
| ? | Trans-Siberian Orchestra | Letters from the Labyrinth | ||
| ? | Trivium | Silence in the Snow | ||
| ? | W.A.S.P. | Golgotha |
I hope you guys had a great Christmas and have a happy new year!
