Haunting The Chapel’s Top 26 Metal Albums Of 2011 So Far

Before the quibbling starts: I didn't include YOB's Atma because it isn't out until August. It would be way up there. I've also been listening to Dragged Into Sunlight's Hatred For Mankind quite a bit, but since it has an original release date of '09 before Prosthetic's 2011 reissue, I didn't include that either. On the other side of things, I've recently started listening pretty intensely to Servile Sect's Trvth (Handmade Birds), a collection that feels like it'll stick around for awhile. Otherwise, this is what I've found myself returning to most often in 2011. (Or at least some of it ... the list is forever shifting.) Regarding No 1: I always enjoyed Winter Hours, but as mentioned previously, everything comes together on Path Of Totality in the strongest, heaviest, most compelling ways possible. The selection also has something to do with sweating my ass off in a humid, urine-scented NYC for another summer: I appreciate the stoic, uncorking violence on this one. That, and the way a no-bullshit New York noise-rock toughness marries moving, surprisingly delicate "blackened" ambitiousness. (Plus, gotta respect a dude who talks about gearing up for band practice with weight training and protein shakes.) The list: