I haven’t been publishing a lot of metal lately, which is too bad. There were some real gems featured earlier this year plus a few tunes that just came in recently. Here is the Top Metal Music of 2007, as selected from the ([HearingTest]) audio archive.

This list is not in order of greatness because I can’t decide on which is the best. I just know these are the cream of the crop!

Top Metal Music on ([HearingTest]) in 2007

As far as metal goes, I haven’t been listening to anything very brutal this year except for Dethklok. The tunes here are dominated by drones and noise except for Grails and Wolves In The Throne Room. What does it mean when the most brutal metal comes from a Cartoon band with a drum machine?

• Earth – The Driver
• Earth – Oroborous
• OM – Unitive Knowledge Of The Godhead
• Goatsnake – Easy Greasy (reIssue)
• Wolves In The Throne Room – I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots
• Grails – Dead Vine Blues
• Boris/Merzbow – Flower Sun Rain
• nadja – Numb
• nadja – Basefluid

Except for nadja, all of these tunes and artists are available from Southern Lord, the best damn record label for heavy music. The nadja tunes I downloaded for free from the net label NoiseUsse which is one of the nicest online portals for experimental music featuring all kinds of noise, electronica, metal, techno, breakcore and other kinds of heavy music. NoiseUsse has been one of my favorite sources of amazing music ever since my band mate 666 G introduced me to it in 2001. It specializes in superb music by artists who exist happily in the underground scenes and maybe shy away from the mainstream spotlight. The music I have found there is insanely creative and honest, commercial-free from creation to distribution. Like these tracks from nadja….

Southern Lord website

NoiseUsse website (this site has been down over the holiday, but I know it will be fixed soon)

Pages about Boris ~ drone metal ~ Earth ~ Grails ~ Merzbow ~ metal ~ nadja ~ NoiseUsse ~ Southern Lord ~ Wolves In The Throne Room