Since the site’s inception, we’ve held annual community polls to determine our favourite records – but what of the years prior to the Bowl’s existence? Today is your chance to let us know what album(s) would have made your “Best of 1997” list.

A few months ago on the Toilet ov Hell Social Club I asked the group to participate in a poll to try and gauge if there was concensus on which albums kicked the most arse from the utterly meaningless years before the Flushening®. So starting with 2013 and descending from there, I asked the group to nominate only their most cherished records and upvote all the stuff they dug at the time/dig now. The votes poured in, and while we did end up with a pretty good cross-section of what the diverse demographic dug, it occurred to me that a bunch of you dwelling in the doldrums of Disqus might like to voice your opinions too. The way this will run is via essentially the same method as we do for the end-of-year community album polls.

Last week’s poll for 1998 is still open and we had some extra albums added during the week, so even if you voted on the day you might wanna head back here and check it out before we start to tally the votes.

Today is all about 1997 though, so let’s go.

How To Vote

1. Don’t be a dropkick
2. Make sure all comments are shown before adding your picks
3. List your favorite album(s) in the comment (don’t nominate an album that sucks)
4. Crucify that fucken ctrl+f to make sure you aren’t being a reposting dropkick
5. Upvote the other albums you love (down-voting does nothing)
6. Double-check the record you’re nominating is from 1997

Now just to get you started, I’ll post a heap of the polling options to refresh your memory of some of the albums from 1997. As discussed last week, add these in the comments to vote for them, then add your own too.

• • • Summoning – Dol Guldur
    • Rammstein – Sehnsucc
    • Ulver – Nattens Madrigal
    • Primus – Brown Album
    • Immortal – Blizzard Beasts
    • Fredrik Thordendal’s Special Defects – Sol Niger Within
    • Strapping Young Lad – City
    • Esoteric – The Pernicious Enigma
    • Arcturus – La Masquerade Infernale
    • Electric Wizard – Come My Fanatics
    • Iced Earth – Days Of Purgatory
    • Discordance Axis – Jouhou
    • Sacramentum – The Coming Chaos
    • Assuck – Misery Index
    • Necrophobic – Darkside
    • Sevendust – Se7endust
    • Dismember – Death Metal
    • Nasum – World In Turmoil
    • In Flames – Whoracle
    • Limbonic Art – In Abhorrence Dementia
    • Enslaved – Eld
    • Orange Goblin – Frequencies From Planet Ten
    • Symphony X – The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
    • Faith No More – Album Of The Year
    • Windir – Soknardalr
    • Limp Bizkit – Three Dolla Bill, Yall$
    • Hammerfall – Glory To The Brave
    • Absu – The Third Storm Of Cythraul
    • Nightwish – Anegls Fall First
    • Rhapsody – Legendary Tales
    • Machine Head – The More Things Change
    • Spastic Ink – Ink Complete
    • Testament – Demonic
    • Rotting Christ – A Dead Poem
    • Devin Townsend – Ocean Machine: Biomech
    • Septicflesh – Ophidian Wheel
    • Children Of Boredom – Something Mild
    • Mithotyn – In The Sign Of The Ravens
    • Deftones – Around The Furries
    • Summoning – Nightshade Forests
    • Vader – Black To The Blind
    • Stratovarius – Visions
    • Metallica – Reload
    • Megadeth – Cryptic Writings
    • Entombed – To Ride, Shoot Straight, Eat Hot Chip And Lie