As per usual when it comes time to start making lists, I already find myself wishing to add amendments. This is always the case when making lists, but this time I think there are two very distinct problems I'm encountering. The first is that, as previously stated, I've kept poor tabs on new releases this year, so I'll likely still be uncovering things for quite some time that were released in 2011 and that I really like. The second is that I've found myself so heavily drawn to new pagan/viking/folk metal that I had to restrain myself to keep from totally losing any trace of balance in my genre distribution. I was already pretty lopsided, and on second thought I probably should have been even more so than I was.
That top 10 list is done, but just as a couple quick honorable mentions, I'd like to note "Book of Dowth" by Suidakra and "Heiðindómr ok mótgangr" by Helheim. Some good material was also released this year by Absu, Vomitory, Skeletonwitch, Autopsy, Purgatory, and other groups too but the two aforementioned albums are the ones that I feel most strongly deserve mention.
My guess is six months from now I'll look back at my list and shake my head, but oh well.
I also like that Helheim record quite a bit, but it's one of two albums I heard this year that I just couldn't figure out how to write a review for it. I think the problem is I'm not well-versed enough in Viking metal to write about it. I never did try, though, so maybe I'll get around to it some time. With the other one I listened to but didn't review (Obscura's Omnivium), my thoughts just never coalesced into a cohesive article, and I had a couple of false starts with writing it.
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