50. Lord Dying – “Mysterium Tremendum”

Beautiful and heart-breaking are not words that you would usually equate to sludge metal, but Oregon based Lord Dying have indeed managed to create something exquisitely wonderful that combines scuzzy riffs with gorgeous melodies, divine orchestration and touching lyrics. This is a deeply personal album about death. It chronicles a catalogue of tragic losses that beset the band over the last twelve months and provides a soundtrack to their grief and also their recovery. For a band that trade in primal grinding riffs, it is actually a real deep and delicate record. It moves in waves, plunging you into the despair and then pulling you out again into the safety of redemptive beauty. Staggeringly good.