Tempel - On the Steps of the Temple
Holy bejeesus this is the kind of metal I freaking love. It's all instrumental, but you won't even notice the lack of a vocalist a minute into the first song. These guys don't shamble along like most instrumental bands, they keep it really tight and heavy paying close attention to dynamics. The longs songs fly by...I found myself playing this 3 times in a row last night. It covers all kinds of metal...stoner, doom, death, black...whatever fits the song they nail it. It's only January and I think I already found a contender for my favorite metal album of the year. It takes a lot for a metal album to hit my ears like this these days.