I sit here just… trembling in fear at what I must do. I have to, once again, compile a relatively large list of albums, rank them, briefly critique them, and then add in enough quirky little pieces of information, comedy and entertainment if I EVER hope ANYONE in the universe is actually going to read… a good bit of it. And why? It's already!… It's already friggin… 2007! I missed the boat folks! Game over!

*sigh*

But seriously. This is a metal list. I listen to metal, and other stuff too. I could write up a huge thesis on why…

Another entry in my best albums of yesteryear series. This one was surprisingly hard to choose.

10. Of Montreal – Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f4/Coquelicot.jpg/200px-Coquelicot.jpg

Why?: Though not as strong in quality as Satanic Panic in the Attic, this Of Montreal deserves it's place on the list simply for its consistency, as it's a rather lengthy concept album. Some tracks are a little too trippy and off the mark, but overall it's a wonderful psychedelic indie pop experience.

09. Gorguts – From Wisdom to Hate
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/From_Wisdom_to_Hate.jpg

Why?: Anyone that's familiar with later era gorguts…

[url=http://www.last.fm/user/the_red_ceiling/
]the_red_ceiling introduced me the other night to RateYourMusic. It's basically another music community, only devoted to personal preference, ratings, and reviews, and observing your overall collection of music.

[url=http://www.last.fm/user/weezescorcho/
]Spense and I got one, and now we're hooked.

Check it out http://rateyourmusic.com/~Magnumforce2006

If you have facebook, and also no time to spend doing something useful, check out my favorite album art:

Artists A-K
Artists L-Z

You will need to have a facebook to view them, though… sowry :-(

But hey, if you DON'T have facebook, you should get one! I'll invite you if you actually do want one ;-)

I didn't have much today in terms of class, so I decided, hey… Let's make a new last.fm post. I always have fun doing lists, so here's my personal favorites from the year 2k2.

10. Sigur Ros – ()
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8d/Sigurros%28%29.jpg/200px-Sigurros%28%29.jpg

Why?: Beautiful (of course). I'm not sure if I prefer this album, or Takk, but one thing's for sure… I've never been in such reverence of the phrase "youuu saddd aallooone" being repeated over and over again.

09. Blindside – Silence
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/Silence.jpg/200px-Silence.jpg

Why?: I've totally stopped keeping track of Blindside, but this is by far my favorite release from the…

This year has been an incredible one for music and me, so I'm going to have a really tough time compiling a top list around December/January. However, dwolfson20 gave me a fun idea of doing a top list from past years. I've already done toplists for 2k5 and 2k4, so I decided to start going backwards from there.

10. Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Outkast-speakerboxx-lovebelow.jpg/200px-Outkast-speakerboxx-lovebelow.jpg

Why?: Excellent double disc of hip hop I not only can stand, but love.

09. Extol – Synergy
http://www.ragazzi-music.de/bilder/extol_gr.jpg

Why?: Synergy is extol's compelling take on thrash, executed with brilliance and technical prowess that outdoes…

In my weeklies it says that I listened to 236 zao tracks and I… I uh, didn't.

I have alarms set for my foobar and it went off, playing "The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here," for most of Saturday. It's a good album though… just not THAT good.

I registered and set up my plugin for last.fm back in March 1st, 2005. 14,176 tracks later… I can see it's been a good year since then, with new discoveries, and unearthing old favorites. At first, I viewed last.fm as a hindrance or obligation to my music listening experience… But now I see it as a clear enhancer, encouraging me to listen to artists I like that aren't in my top 50, and immediately viewing some of my more favored music so that I might reevalute it.

Just a quick comparison… Here's my top ten from the very first week…

Ah… well, I put this off pretty nicely.

Music is my passion. Of all the artforms in existence, none gives me pleasure and sustains spirits like music. My Metal list gave an overview of a particular genre of music that I hold a greater interest in than most… But simply because I have a particular interest in metal, does not mean I neglect the other forms of music in life. I truly feel that I have developed a well-rounded appreciation for music over the past few years, and am grateful for the gift of every sort of stimulating, emotional, technically…

Metal, to me, is a special kind of music. It's something that is perhaps, a bit of an acquired taste… it's something you have to learn to love. And it's definitely different in many ways to most conventional forms of music. That's why I usually end off the year with a list of just my favorite metal releases (along with my non-Metal list)… Partly because I just love metal that much.. And partly because it would be difficult for me to judge many of my metal favorites against my other musical favorites.

So, here's my list. Bear in mind that…