Beginning December 28 through January 1, we’ll be posting Top 10 Albums of 2000-2009 lists once again determined by our esteemed writers. Also, expect things to get back to normal next week with regular news updates and Daily Diversions. But today, we bring you the final Top 10 Albums of 2009 list! LoudLoopPress.com Editor-In-Chief Richard Giraldi leaves a path of destruction with his list for the Top 10 albums of 2009.

10. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
Sure, it’s not innovative, but Them Crooked Vultures’ debut album is gritty, dark and very heavy. As I alluded to in my full review of the album, 2009, for the most part, was fairly quite on the rock front (metal, maybe not). Well, Them Crooked Vultures’ rock and they rock hard. Opener “No one Loves Me & Neither Do I” opens with a sultry blues swagger until erupting into a massive grinding gear-like riff that’s a total head banger. “Scumbag Blues” is a revved up rocker that shines if only because of Dave Grohl’s excellent drumming. Then “Reptiles” is a complete Zeppelin throwback with John Paul Jones’ steady-but-huge bass riff pounding away as Homme’s twisted guitar lines make it completely fresh. Them Crooked Vultures maybe just a one off project, but it’s undoubtedly the boldest and most satisfying super group album in years.

9. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Let me be the first to officially apologize to France for some of the foolishness us Americans said back in 2003. The French can’t be all terrible seeing how they gave us Phoenix. It’s been a long while since an album so sleek and so simple has captivated my attention, but Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is the perfect blend of finely produced synth buzzes, clockwork drumbeats, clever guitar arrangements and youthful fire. The album ranges from the incredibly catchy yet seductive “1901″ to the haunting “Love Like a Sunset Part I,” which sounds like the result if a Radiohead scored a John Hughes movie. Obviously, I’m not the only one who really dug this album. But really, it’s hard not to keep coming back. It’s smart and honest pop music. Smart and honest being used as adjectives to describe pop music? Really? Yes, really.

8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
When It’s Blitz! came out in March, I had already ordained it album of the year. But then the year went on and it did falter a bit compared to some of the year’s later releases. However, the album is still great. It’s a rollercoaster of danceable electro-rock and bittersweet computerized ballads. “Heads Will Roll” opens with a retro-synth line before the lovely Karen O invites us to “Dance til you’re dead.” Then the Yeah Yeah Yeahs turn on the epic switch with “Runaway,” probably their most powerful song to date. It’s Blitz! proves that there’s more to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s than “Maps,” and the album is much more focused than the scattershot Show Your Bones from 2006. By the time December rolled around, the album may have lost a bit of steam, but It’s Blitz! kick started an excellent 2009 for music.

7. Flaming Lips – Embryonic
So the other day my friend had asked me if I had heard the new Flaming Lips album. Of course, I told him that I had. He went on to tell me how much he hated the album and that it was, in his words, “horrible.” I was shocked. Then I forgot that this friend’s really only exposure to the Flaming Lips had been the “Yeah Yeah Yeah Song,” “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1″ and “She Don’t Use Jelly.” It’s funny how easily people forget what a long history the Flaming Lips have. If I had thrown on In A Priest Driven Ambulance or Oh My Gawd!!! for said friend and told him this was the Flaming Lips he probably would assume I was a complete liar. Yes, the Lips did dabble in symphonic pop and cutesy pop rock for a couple of albums (And unfortunately, they’re still offering this image in their live show, which really makes the Embryonic songs feel completely out of place.), but the Lips, for the most part, have always been challenging and experimental. That’s why Embryonic is such as success. It reminds us whom the Flaming Lips were before “Do You Realize??” was in a Nissan commercial. None of these songs could be used in a commercial unless they legalized and started mass producing psychedelic mushrooms. Embryonic, at the very least, is excellent because it proves that the Lips still know how to be dark and twisted.

6. Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
Seriously, how is rhyming Plymouth Barracuda and BC Buddha not completely brilliant? The Black Lips continue their world dominance with their ’60’s psychedelic garage rock throwback sound on 200 Million Thousand. The record features probably the catchiest, heart-wrenching ballad of the year in “Starting Over,” which really comes to life over the warm, gooey lofi production. The Black Lips maybe the only band that sounds the same on vinyl as they do on MP3. It’s really quite remarkable. The band even dabbles in some hip hop-esque beats on “Drop I Hold,” and closer “Meltdown” is possibly the Black Lips’ heaviest song ever. 200 Million Thousand is the perfect gritty summertime album and road trip ready. If you missed it, please do yourself a favor and get it right now.

5. The Decemberists – Hazards Of Love
The Decemberists did something nearly unheard of in our iTunes era by making an actual album that works best as a whole rather than in parts. Hazards Of Love is a concept piece about lost love, kings and queens and all the spectacularly violent trimmings. On the surface it seems derivative and over the top, but the Decemberists make this point obvious. It’s not trying to be more than it is – a dramatic showpiece in which each song carries the story along without tripping over itself. The music is pure The Who or even Zeppelin with the mysticism of Fleetwood Mac and add to that Colin Meloy’s absurdly obtuse lyrics and you’ve got a real winner. “The Rake’s Song” is perhaps the catchiest song about child murder ever written, and “The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid” opens with a whimsical, almost Arcade Fire approach until transitioning to a big, beefy rocker with some absolutely sultry vocals from Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. Hazards Of Love is dark, beautiful and maybe just a tad pretentious – but that’s what makes it so damn good.

4. Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Sonic Youth began this decade with some great yet difficult records in Murray Street and Sonic Nurse with the help of Jim O’Rourke. Then after O’Rourke left the band. Sonic Youth offered perhaps their most accessible and straight forward album ever with the lovely 2006 release Rather Ripped. But this summer, Sonic Youth decided to turn the distortion up again with The Eternal. The album rocks, and it rocks hard. The album sounds like a more mature throwback to their early 90’s-era of Dirty and Goo. Add to the fact that Kim Gordon sounds absolutely amazing, and The Eternal is more a statement than an album. “No Way” offers one of the coolest guitar riffs all year, and the Lee Ranaldo sung “What We Know” features a groove that you didn’t think Sonic Youth could still shake out at this point in their careers. You’d think after 16 albums, Sonic Youth would be running out of steam, but like a fine wine, they’re actually getting better with age.

3. Tortoise – Beacons Of Ancestorship
Finally, a Chicago band makes the list. The mighty Tortoise returned this summer with a truly remarkable album. I had the chance to talk to Tortoise drummer/synth player/other-ist John Herndon this summer, and he informed me that the group made a conscious decision to make it synth heavy and focus less on the mallet work for which they’ve become known. And really, what a great decision. Beacons Of Ancestorship opens with the epic “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” that starts as a bass-synth heavy slow churner until completely shifting midway through to a cacophony of layered synths of all shapes and sizes over a steady back beat. The album’s single, “Prepare Your Coffin,” could easily be a theme song to a 1970’s cop show with it’s gritty production and car chase energy, and another highlight is the muddy, punk rock on acid take “Yinxianghechengqi” that borders on erupting into pure chaos but manages to stay focused for three and a half minutes. If this list were the top instrumental albums of 2009, no doubt this would be number one. But chiming in at number three is no slouch, and there was honestly no better album showcasing a band’s collective musicianship this year.

2. St. Vincent – Actor
The first time I heard Actor, I was honestly left speechless. I had only listened to the album for a day before I went to see St. Vincent on a whim at The Metro back in June. It was probably the greatest decision I made all year. Everything about her is stunning: Her voice, her looks, her guitar playing, her presence, her song writing ability, everything. Actor is equal parts haunting, abrasive, beautiful and mesmerizing. “Actor Out Of Work” is a rocker that speeds through as St. Vincent, or Annie Clark, which ever you prefer, lets loose a steady and calm delivery of “You’re the curses through my teeth/You’re the laughter/ You’re the obscene.” The album’s centerpiece is “The Party” a four-minute lament on perhaps the most melancholy party you’ve ever attended. From top to bottom, Actor might be the most promising album of the year in igniting what appears to be a magnificent career in the works for Miss Annie Clark.

1. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Yes, metal gods Mastodon have taken this year’s top spot. It’s really hard to argue with Crack The Skye. The album may not be as abrasive and the riffs may not be as grinding as Leviathan or Blood Mountain, but Crack The Skye makes up for it with emotion and intensity. Also, there’s a whole lot more singing from bassist Troy Sanders, guitarist Brent Hinds and drummer Brann Dailor than we’ve heard in the past, but it absolutely works. And since Crack The Skye takes on a bit more influence from progressive and classic rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Zeppelin, the songs take the time to breathe resulting in some of the most epic climaxes ever. Tracks like “The Czar” really showcases the band’s love for clever arranging as it transitions from an organ-led, eerie mind warper into a big monster riff machine. The closer, “The Last Baron” is thirteen minutes of pure face melting. Even the small intricacies such as the brief wind-up, Rush throwback around the six-minute mark sound completely natural and organic. Did I add that Brendan O’Brien did an absolutely incredible job on the album’s production? Well, he did. And Mastodon leave us gasping for breathe once the album comes to a close. Even non-metal fans would enjoy this one, as it’s probably the most accessible album the band has ever written. Mastodon once again proves why they’re the best metal band in all the land right now. Crack The Skye is undoubtedly the best album of 2009.