Who Decides: 2010 Albums of the Year

2010 was a bit of a down year. There wasn't that much to get excited about, but the albums that are in the top 10 are really good, sum will easily make the albums of the decade list in 8 years...if the blog is still up and running. I managed to review a few of these albums as the year wrapped up, so hopefully I won't have to talk about each album as much as I did in the past.

A couple of honorable mentions to Eluveitie with Everything Remains As It Never Was. It was a return to Slania-type folk/melodic death metal. In fact, they probably threw in more folk than before. If you liked Slania, check this one out. This is probably my favorite song off the album, but it's also the slowest.


And the God of War III EP. This thing had songs by Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Opeth, Dream Theater, and a couple others. The mentioned 4 band songs were awesome. Opeth going back to some 70's progressive feel and DT going instrumental. And what about Trivium? They kept going in the same direction that they started with Shogun. I couldn't include it because it was just an EP. But it is definitely one of the better releases this year.


10. Angelus Apatrida - Clockwork: This is retro thrash. It was between this band and another called Vindication. One sounds like Megadeth the other Testament. I went with the latter. Nothing really special here. It's classic bay area thrash with great solos and some early Testament style vocals. Like I said, solid, but definitely didn't break any new ground.


9. Pendulum - Immersion: Kind of the black sheep of the list. This band falls under the "drum & bass" genre. It's has that techno/trance/rave type feel to it at times. I found out the album from the song Self vs. Self which had In Flames on it.


To be honest it's an In Flames song on another album because the rest of the album sounds nothing like that. But that's ok. It's really not bad. It reminds me of 80's new wave at times in fact. Believe it or not, I have a soft spot for bands like Tears for Fears, Human League and the likes. Hopefully Pendulum will continue to push the lines of drum & bass to include more metal aspects.


8. Charred Walls of the Damned - Charred Walls of the Damned: I talked about their album HERE. Solid classic metal album. This is a must for Iced Earth fans as well, even if you are fans of Matt Barlow era Iced Earth.


7. As I Lay Dying - This Powerless Rise: there is nothing wrong with this album, it's just not close to being as good as their previous album. No surprises here. If you liked their last one, the same thing is going on here too. I can't complain about it.


6. Eye of the Enemy - Weight of Redemption: can't believe I never talked about this album. It is near perfect for a debut. The production is top notch. It's better than some veteran albums. Eye of the Enemy plays what I call modern thrash, think DevilDriver. The riffs are vicious and the drumming is intense. Vocals have that harder edge to them without going total death metal. There is some interesting use of techno elements, but nothing to write home about. It pops up once or twice and it doesn't take anything away from the song. This is a band to keep an eye on (no pun intended). How many bands can write an 8 minute song to close an album and make it feel like a typical 4 minute song? Not many. Just go to the 3:20 mark to hear some killer music.


5. Arcania - Sweet Angel Dust: Another new band. This band could have used the production that Eye of the Enemy had. That is probably the one downfall of this album. I reviewed it HERE.


4. Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy: This was a bit of a disappointment at first because it wasn't close to The Godless Endeavor. Plus the solo albums from Jeff Loomis and Warrell Dane made the expectations really high. Well after I listened to it, I put it away thinking "this sucks", then I revisited it a couple of weeks later and was blown away by it. It reminds me a lot of Dead Heart in a Dead World because it isn't all thrash. It has some moments that are thrash, but others are that sort of mid-tempo memorable songs. Each song has a hook that grabs you right away and doesn't let go.


3. All That Remains - For We Are Many: I didn't get a chance to review this album during the year, but here is a quick summary. Better than Overcome, but not The Fall of Ideals. It's a solid album. They took the hooks of Overcome and tried to bring in a little bit heavier feel to the album, but it didn't get all the way to The Fall of Ideals. Out of their 5 albums, it is probably their 3rd best, behind The Fall of Ideals and their debut.


2. Bullet For My Valentine - Fever: I reviewed it HERE. Did I say Nevermore had hooks, this thing is like a bait shop...that's a horrible joke, but the point is every song is great. This is a band that I truly thought I would never like, now after their last two albums, I am actually looking forward to see what they can do next.


1. Blaze Bayley - Promise and Terror: I reviewed it HERE. Great throw back to classic metal. No death metal vocals, no breakdowns, just classic heavy metal. Great album. Check out that riff at the 2:40 mark.


That's it. I have mentioned it already, but 2011 looks really good. I think it will be one of the better years for music.

Music Non Stop: Nevermore & As I Lay Dying new audio samples

I think by now everyone knows how excited I am for the new Nevermore. They released another teaser trailer featuring every song on the album.

Sounds pretty solid. I am loving the title track right now and really can't wait for this one.

If that wasn't good enough news, I read that 30 sec clips of the new As I Lay Dying album, The Powerless Rise, was online. I actually had a chance to listen to them before they were taken down. They have one song up on their site for the new album HERE.

They were both just 30 second clips of the songs, but they sound good. The As I Lay Dying tracks sounded just like their last album. I wasn't too worried they would change their sound, but now my expectation are high for this one again.

Music Non Stop: 2010 albums...Bullet For My Valentine

So still a slow year. I have been listening to more 2010 albums and still am not that impressed. I am looking for to As I Lay Dying's new one, The Powerless Rise. Hopefully, something will be released so we can get a sample of things to come.

Despite my knocking of Deadlock last week, I am still hopeful something will come out this year from these guys.

But this post is about Bullet For My Valentine. This is a band I didn't want to like, not unlike As I Lay Dying. The first song I heard was Tears Don't Fall. I passed it off as some metalcore emo song. I didn't pay too much attention to it. When they released Scream, Aim, Fire I thought it was a horrible title and didn't want to like it. But when it was all said and done, Scream, Aim, Fire made my top 10 (top 5 actually). Just to say who the others were All That Remains, Testament, Trivium, and Metallica. That's pretty good company.

So last year, I read an article saying they were going into more of a rock feel for this album, since the last one had more thrash elements to it. I was kind of disappointed, but whatever right? Well, they released their first single/video for their new album Fever, The Last Fight.

I'm not sure I hear too many rock influences, maybe it's the lack of screaming vocals? It sounds pretty good and now they are on my radar.

As I am typing this up, I am listening to a new band Amaranthe. They caught my eye because there was a band called Amaran that was great female fronted thrash (imagine Nevermore with a female singer, not operatic either). So anyway, this is some catchy metal...ironically kind of like Deadlock. I would say they have more power metal influence mixed in with death metal vocals. Deadlock is more melodic death metal with female vocals mixed in. I will definitely be looking for this album.

*UPDATE* ok, so I have listened to the EP (thank you Youtube). It's hard to nail down this band into one genre. As I said, there are melodic death metal influences, some power metal, and some good ole' thrash metal. The 3 vocalists brings back memories of old Into Eternity. I hear some nice vocal harmonies like Into Eternity. Very good. I would still compare them to Deadlock because a normal range female is rare in metal.

Futureal: 2010 albums

New year...new tag. Futureal tags will be for predicting things, like upcoming albums, shows, or whatever hasn't happened yet.

So with 2009 closing and 2010 just starting, what am I looking forward to? Well here is a quick "wish list" if you will.

Anthrax: they were supposed to release Worship Music in October, but dumped there lead singer, Dan Nelson. From the videos I saw, the new album was a lot heavier than anything they had done before... think Testament's Low through The Gathering (yes include Demonic). Supposedly they are back with John Bush, which is great, but I hope they don't sacrifice the music.

As I Lay Dying: their albums have gotten better with each release. An Ocean Between Us was great. No filler at all. I don't want to have too high of hopes, but I already do. I really want this one to be great. It is one of those things you try to avoid, but like I said this one is way up there for me.

Fear Factory: Dino is back and from what I have heard it is classic FF. I thought the last album was too much of a metal rocker type album instead of industrial metal.

Beyond the Embrace: maybe? Their first two albums are great, but then nothing. On their Myspace page, there was a hint of a new album this year. Crossing my fingers here.

Trivium: no brainer here. Shogun was great and I hope the follow up is a lot better than The Crusade was to Ascendancy.

Into Eternity: haven't heard anything, but I am hoping for a new one from these guys.

All That Remains: see above.

In Flames: A Sense of Purpose was ok. That's it. Come Clarity was great. Maybe they rushed with A Sense of Purpose who knows. I am hoping for something like CC or even Reroute to Remain.

That's about it. I think this should be a good year. Last year was so slow until June or July then it got crazy. Hopefully, I won't have to wait until June to hear something great.

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Now playing: Brides of Destruction - Life
via FoxyTunes

Spotlight: As I Lay Dying, Still Remains

So this week we went a little metalcore on everyone. Is there anything wrong with liking metalcore music? Not really. Basically for me a good/great metalcore band is a band that has some great vocals, both growls and singing, and some killer drumming and riffs. Killswitch Engage is a great example of a great metalcore band.

Still Remains - White Walls

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Still Remains is another example of a metalcore band that includes the use of a keyboard. It adds a sort of Soilwork aspect to their music. Their debut Of Love and Lunacy reminded me at times of a Soilwork/In Flames clone, but their follow-up The Serpent is totally different. The keys in the debut were more for atmosphere purposes, however their new disc the keys are much more in the foreground of the music. It really adds a new dimension to the band. Also of note is the vocals. The screams aren't feature as much, but that's not a bad thing because the clean vocals work very well.

Still Remains - The Worst is Yet to Come

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My favorite "new" band has to be As I Lay Dying. I remember seeing the cover for Frail Worlds Collapse with the skulls thinking "Wow this a pretty cool cover, I bet the music is just as good." And ya know what? It wasn't. It was below average death metal/metalcore. The drums were annoying in that St. Anger way. I had no real respect for them at the time. I didn't hate them, but they were like whatever.

As I Lay Dying - Confined

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So I hear this song call Confined that was pretty cool. When I found out it was AILD I was blow away. They had done the classic scream/clean chorus and made it work. Add onto that the production on the album was a notch better. They had more of a thrash feel to some of their songs. They had about 5 solid songs ont hat album for me that really worked. I wasn't saying they were the best, but I knew I had to pay attention to their next album.

As I Lay Dying - The Darkest Nights

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Enter An Ocean Between Us. Wow what an album. They took all the strong parts from Shadows are Security and made them better. Kept the thrash riffs, clean choruses, and improved their song writing. On top of that they seem to have a trilogy of videos going on right now. I am hooked on them and can't really wait to see how they turn out. Two of the videos are posted below.

As I Lay Dying - Nothing Left

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So what does this mean? It means you can have some top notch metalcore music. Metal is meant to be played loud and fast. These bands do that. Too many metalheads focus in on the fact that it isn't Metallica, Slayer, or any 80's metal band and disreguard it right away.

As I Lay Dying - The Sound of Truth

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Playlist for the week:
Tuesday: White Walls, The Wax Walls of an Empty Room by Still Remains from Of Love and Lunacy; The Serpent.
Wednesday: Confined, Through the Darkest Nights, The Truth of My Perception by As I Lay Dying from Shadows are Security.
Thursday: An Ocean Between Us, This is Who We Are by As I Lay Dying from An Ocean Between Us.
Friday: Nothing Left, The Sound of Truth by As I Lay Dying from An Ocean Between Us.