2009 was a bloody banner year for dark, twisted and horror-themed music, making this a pretty damn tough choice... but I gotta say it was worth the effort delving into the FEARnet music vaults to find the songs, albums, videos and other musical oddities that burned themselves into our brains over the past twelve months. So hit the jump and take a trip back through 2009's coolest, creepiest, sickest and LOUDEST sonic sensations, presented in alphabetical order.

69 Eyes: Back in Blood
The always entertaining “Helsinki Vampires” really cranked up their patented “Goth N Roll” skills for their latest release, which benefits from the input of Grammy-winning producer Matt Hyde (Slayer, Monster Magnet), who helped the band accelerate their moodier, more Gothic sound into heavy, dark and raunchy rock. The Eyes vibe remains intact, of course, but it's leaner, meaner and more menacing this time around... and you'll love 'em for it.

Their fusion of '80s goth-glam and down 'n' dirty rock (with just the right touch of horror punk for spice) comes across strongest in cuts like Kiss Me Undead, Suspiria Snow White and Dead Girls are Easy – which became a cool and super-sexy video featuring a legion of slinky vamp vixens. But there's still that dark undercurrent of ghoulish romance at work in the Jean Rollin-inspired tune Lips of Blood and the atmospheric closer Eternal.

Jyrki69 and the boys are definitely taking their sound in the right direction, while still hanging onto the romantically macabre themes that made them world-famous among Goth and horror-rock fans.

Cannibal Corpse: Evisceration Plague
The gore/death-metal legends managed to secure their position on the top tier of horror music once again with this year's chart-busting sequel to KILL, demonstrating how singular skills in musicianship, songwriting and production are the key to standing out among an endless blood-red sea of imitators.

Cannibal Corpse is one of those bands who manage to effectively step up their production game with each new release, and Evisceration Plague demonstrates this evolution at its highest stage yet, playing out its apocalyptic drama on an epic canvas and making good on the band’s intention to make each release more aggressive than the last. Each and every track is gory gold, but Scalding Hail, A Cauldron of Hate and Carnivorous Swarm are among the strongest repeaters.

Avoiding the muddy mixes that are often the downfall of extreme death metal, the guiding hand of producer Eric Rutan assures that the technical precision of each instrument comes through amid the bone-splintering sonic mayhem and raw but tightly focused rage of Corpsegrinder Fisher's vocals. The end product is one of the best extreme music releases of the year. Bloody awesome! (Read FEARnet's Review)

Chickenhawk: I Hate This... Do You Like It?
While not a horror-themed band, UK-based indie rockers Chickenhawk showed their crimson colors as true genre fans with the video for their single I Hate This... Do You Like It? After debating whether they even wanted to do a video for the song, the band fortunately decided on a full-bore zombie apocalypse as their visual theme – and we're damn proud of them for it. The end result is a gut-munching good time for all.

Directed by NME photographer Danny North, the video grew out of an idea he had for some bizarre press photos with the band, and before they knew it over 200 extras were lining up to be covered with blood and latex by a crew of one dozen makeup artists, who also fashioned some inventive low-budget gore effects. North would end up shooting over 20 hours of footage, which finally distilled down into the five-minute epic you see here. Enjoy!

Ghoultown: Mistress of the Dark
Southern horror-rockers Ghoultown had already taken it to the next level with their late 2008 album Life After Sundown, but they scored major points with horror fans this year thanks to a collaboration with acclaimed macabre artist Gris Grimly and iconic horror-hostess Elvira. Grimly directed this loving homage to our favorite voluptuous vamp (aka Casandra Peterson, still gorgeous in her late fifties), who struts her smokin' stuff in this long-form video, in which Ghoultown frontman Count Lyle emerges from a Hee Haw-type TV show to serenade the curvaceous cutie in person.

The best way to experience Mistress of the Dark is in the special-edition DVD/CD set (available for a limited time from either Ghoultown's or Gris Grimly's websites)... it features the EP with the single and other tracks, as well as a DVD of the full video, making-of featurettes and other goodies, all wrapped up in groovy Grimly artwork.

Jet: K.I.A. (“Market Massacre” video)
To promote the track K.I.A. (Killed In Action) from their new album Shaka Rock, Australian raunch-rockers JET turned to crazed, over-the-top gory mayhem for the accompanying video, which they titled Market Massacre. Chronicling a grisly murder spree spontaneously initiated by patrons of a seemingly ordinary supermarket (for reasons never explained), the short film is inspired by rage-plague epics like 28 Days Later or [REC] with a nod to '80s-style splatter flicks.

Spork-stabbings, impalement, skull-smashing in the frozen foods section, and the now-classic “face-in-the-deli-slicer” routine are among the cornucopia of carnage on display here, all set the groove of JET’s righteous old-school sound. Cleanup on aisle 6!

Psyclon Nine: We the Fallen
Call 'em industrial, electro-infused black metal, terror EBM, whatever... any way you slice it, the music of Psyclon Nine is the sound of inhuman hell-spawn feasting on your hapless soul. This is a good thing, by the way. The San Francisco-launched unit is already notorious for their loud, destructive performances, which grew from more straight electro-industrial to the black metal-infused monster that lurks within the digital labyrinth of We the Fallen.

This entry makes my Top 9 for pure evil audacity alone... these cuts practically dare you to listen, with the prospect of losing both your hearing and your sanity looming large from the opening seconds of opening track Soulless (The Maker's Reflection). And it gets even more dangerous from there.

Frontman Nero Bellum is known for modulating his voice in horrifying and unearthly ways, but what surprised me after listening to We the Fallen is that impressive melodic skills are lurking behind that electronic mangling; tracks like Suicide Note Lullaby and Under the Judas Tree are excellent examples of this evolutionary step in the Psyclon sound. Unnerving, nightmarish, thought-provoking but at times darkly beautiful, this is a potent brew which represents the most terrifying music I've ever loved. (Read FEARnet's Review)

Rammstein: Liebe Ist Für Alle Da
Another band who managed to fight their way back to the top is German industrial-metal powerhouse Rammstein, who recovered from a weaker reception for 2005's Rosenrot with this epic tour-de-force – which joins Mutter and Reise, Reise as one of the band's most memorable albums of all time.

Among the many reasons for the heavy buzz surrounding Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (“Love is for All of Us”), the X-rated video for the silly single Pussy probably topped the list, but the rest of the tracks really display the raw power that is Rammstein in top form – bombastic, Wagnerian overtures, earth-shakingly heavy riffs, soaring leads, rich harmonies and punchy, danceable rhythms that will have you pogo-ing your ass off.

Frontman Till Lindemann also turns out his most refined work here, coursing effortlessly from cave-troll roars to tender, melodic ballads – often within the same track. Tracks like Mehr and Wiener Blut rank among the band's best riffage, right up there with earlier classics like Sonne and Keine Lust. (Read FEARnet's Review)

Rusty Eye: Possessor
One of my favorite finds of '09 was this horror-savvy metal unit from Hollywood, whose multimedia skills reach far and wide. The talented trio have a total understanding of how horror movies and heavy music are connected... and they seem to have this wired into their creative DNA. As a result, this love of all things horror permeates every note and frame of their work.

Another reason why you should be checking out Rusty Eye this very instant is their ability to draw horror's top talents to join in the fun: not only did they get legendary artist Joe Petagno to paint the cover for Possessor, but they also managed to enlist the talents of none other than Claudio Simonetti, founding member of Goblin and Daemonia, to collaborate on several tracks.

But don't just take my word for it... you can actually watch the band perform songs from Possessor in multi-angle mode on the band's impressive website. Not only can you see the amazing Miss Randall sing and pound blazing double-kick in high heels, but you can watch her being slowly eaten alive (while singing) in the video for Mister Cannibal (from previous album The Stendhal Syndrome). As I said before, any true horror and metal fan MUST check these guys out.

Slayer: World Painted Blood
Talk about worth the wait... Slayer's latest studio album ranks among the legendary metallers' personal best, and is very likely my all-time favorite since Reign in Blood. The gang really poured their black hearts into this project, and it shows.

Tracks like Beauty Through Order, Unit 731, Public Display of Dismemberment and Americon reflect Slayer's dark, violent and misanthropic vision perfectly, and the amazingly creepy track Playing with Dolls is brought to blood-drenched life in the short animated film of the same name (which is available as part of the deluxe 2-disc set of World Painted Blood).

There have been rumors buzzing that the band may soon be closing up shop... and although I'd hate the idea of a world without new Slayer tunes, I guess it's some comfort knowing the guys went out with an apocalyptic BANG.

Check back in the coming days for our Top 9 TV, biggest disappointments and more!