BEST
3. ARCADE FIRE
Neon Bible (Merge)
Was there any sound this year more glorious than the ecclesiastical pipe organ that opens ''Intervention''? For many, listening to Bible's symphonic rock really was like going to church (and not coincidentally, it was recorded in one). This congregation of seven furiously bangs out big melodies on accordions and drums and whatnot, as if to ward off the apocalypse that pulpit-meister Win Butler keeps predicting. A spiritual secularist, he casts a cynical eye on religion, showbiz, and society. It all converges on ''Black Mirror,'' which refers to the veil separating life from the afterlife, then to our TV screens mocking us. And that rousing epic — that's just the first track.