Subject:	The 2017 List
From:		.jh
Date:		2017-12-10T15:32:15Z
Tags:		music blog best\ of best\ of\ 2017 2017

As listmania season descends upon us I must say that this years list was the hardest to put together that I can recall. While there were a few stand out releases which were always going to be on it, I felt that 2017 had been a fairly weak year for metal which I liked. However in the past few months I discovered a few releases which all of a sudden put my over my limit of ten releases. So for the past few weeks I've been spending all free moments listening to the same couple of albums trying to come to a decision of which make it and which fall under the line. Further complicating this years list is that the fucking day job has had me on the road since mid August almost non-stop. Now given all that travel and living in hotels you'd think it would give ample time to listen to music; the problem is that while I do get time to listen it's shallow listening. It's hard to really take it in while also fighting the ambient noise from the jet around you, or while also trying to block out the guy in the hotel room next door who is blasting his TV. So it's been hard and only time will tell if I've made the correct call. Now here one could argue that perhaps the list should expand, if there are 15 releases which are amazing, why not include them all? Now the argument for including all would be that the releases below ten would get some, albeit limited, exposure they might not otherwise get. On the other hand one could make this argument ad infinitum, so then I might just include all albums I didn't hate. No, better to keep the ten release limit and make the hard choices. 

As I dwell upon this I thought it might be useful to see how last years list fared.

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The list as written looked as such:

1. Deathspell Omega - The Synarchy of Molten Bones
2. Antaeus - Condemnation
3. Spektr - The Art To Disappear
4. Inquisition - Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith
5. מזמור - Yodh
6. L’Homme Absurde - Monsters
7. Behexen - The Poisonous Path
8. Ash Borer - The Irrepassable Gate
9. LVTHN - Eradication of Nescience
10. Forlet Sires - Journey Towards Ruin

Unsurprisingly the top part of the list has gotten a lot more playtime than the bottom half, especially the Antaeus release has gotten a lot. The Spektr album less, but given that it's Spektr, one needs to be in a special mood to enjoy it. I listened less to the Inquisition than I would have thought, but given the two monster albums they released previously, it's easy to just reach for one of them. The מזמור album has held up surprisingly well, it and L’Homme Absurde are frequently spinning here. So I think the list has held up well, if I get around to it, I'll do a post mortem on this years list next year. Until then enjoy the next ten posts.