Muthas, 2016 has bit the dust and I’m back with a list of
the best albums, live albums, reissues and album covers. Enjoy!
The Best Albums of
2016
Bat – Wings Of Chains
Do you like greasy, dirty, raw thrash metal that sounds like
Motorhead + Venom + Warfare? If so, you will love this LP. I previously reviewed their demo and this
picks right up where that left off with a refreshing and fun blast of speedball
metal. Another great band from Ryan
Waste. Check out “Primitive Age.” Raw future indeed!
Diamond Head – Diamond Head
Well what do you know? After releasing a couple of crappy
albums that didn’t reflect their classic sound, Diamond Head comes roaring back
with a cracking album that is replete with good songs. Thankfully, the vocalist – Rasmus Bon
Andersen – sounds a lot like Sean Harris, and Brian Tatler has penned some
great songs. Check out “Bones.”
Grand Magus – Sword Songs
It seems that Grand
Magus wanted to answer some of the complaints about their last album being
too “epic” because Swords Songs is a
return to more straight ahead, faster material.
It’s a very good album that features many anthemic cuts that will be
sure to get your head banging. Check out
“Forged In Fire – Crowned In Iron.”
Gygax – Critical Hits
Arising from the ashes of the now sadly defunct Gypsyhawk is the excellent Gygax which play a tasty selection of
heavy-70s metal that is heavily influenced by Thin Lizzy. Sinewy, twisting dual guitar leads are everywhere and
the songs are catchy as all hell. Oh,
the splatter vinyl is quite simply the most stunning I have ever seen. Check out “Draw Breath.”
Metal Church – XI
The long awaited return of Mike Howe did not disappoint in
the slightest! XI is a phenomenal album that is one of the better comeback albums
in the history Metaldom. It’s great to
hear Mike’s powerful voice ladled on top of choice power/thrash compositions
once more. The songs are excellent and Metal Church are back to reclaim their
rightful throne! Check out “Killing YourTime.”
Testament – Brotherhood Of The Snake
If you’ve liked the previous two Testament albums you will love this one. It’s in the same vein as Formation and Dark Roots –
Chuck Billy roaring over a superb rhythm section and great guitars. There’s lots of thrashing to be heard here
and several of the songs form a sort of concept album about lizard people?(!)
The songs are heavy and catchy with several memorable choruses that will worm
their way into your brain. (It’s probably because of unholy influence of the
lizard people.) Check out “Stronghold.”
Striker – Stand In The Fire
Fun! Fun! Fun! Striker once again unleash an album
that is just damn fun and high energy! These guys know
how to craft great power metal in the vein of Vicious Rumors or Leatherwolf and the cuts are full of great hooks. The songs
are very upbeat and positive and are sure to lift your spirits. More people should be talking about these
Canadians, so get out there and buy this album.
Check out “Too Late.”
Metal Massacre 14
A compilation in a best of list?
You’re damn right! Metal Blade
has finally released a worthy follow up to their classic 80s series of compilations by
focusing on lesser- known traditional metal bands on small or independent
labels. If you are a fan of the NWOTHM
many of these names will be familiar to you, but there are several gems here by
Stone Dagger, Savage Master, Crypt Sermon, Gatekeeper and others. Check out “The Demented Force” by Assassin’s Blade. Buy or die!
Megadeth – Dystopia
Maybe the album of the year.
Full review here. It’s so much
better than the other Big Four releases it’s not even close. What about Metallica you say? It was a big pile of meh. Not list worthy.
Eternal Champion – The Armor Of Ire
Sweet Odin’s Raven this is good! I’ve had a hard time listening to anything
else for the last three months. Eternal Champion is from Austin, Texas
but they may as well have been born in the Hyborian Age because their music is
a virtual soundtrack for Conan and Kull.
This is the way epic metal should be done – songs with fantasy based
lyrics and killer music. Thick,
pummeling rhythms abound and the songs are very catchy. I have nothing to criticize here – the artwork
is great and there’s even a map included!
Album of the year? Sure, why the
hell not? Check out “I Am The Hammer”
and buy this album you knaves!
The Best Live Album
Dirkschneider – Live
– Back To The Roots
Good old Udo is back with a live set of Accept classics and some not so classics to close the books on the Accept stage of his career. Udo sounds great here and so does his backing
band, and he even pulls out some tunes that haven’t been played in years - when was
the last time you got to hear “Monsterman” or “T.V. War” live? Pick this up and
you’ll be able to compare it to the soon-to-be-released Restless and Live from Accept. Check out "Breaker."
The Best Reissues
Banshee – Cry In The Night + Race Against Time
Divebomb Records thankfully released the debut EP and LP
from Banshee with beautiful
remastering and a nice, thick booklet.
This is top notch USPM that was mostly lost in the shuffle back in the
day and deserves to be heard by the metal faithful. Definitely pick up this absolute gem of a two
CD set. Check out “We Want You.”
Skol Records NWOBHM CD
Replica Single Series
Great idea from Skol Records and Bart Gabriel to release
these cd replicas of NWOBHM singles.
Each CD has the original cover art and tracks from the vinyl singles,
and they haven’t picked totally obvious singles either - who thought Hellrazer would ever be reissued for
instance? I hope they continue with this
series in the future!
The Biggest
Disappointment
Anthrax – For All Kings
What a mess. I had
high hopes, but they crapped the bed.
Full review here.
The Best Album Cover
Megadeth – Dystopia
Robot Samurai Vic Rattlehead in a dystopian future? Yes
please! Stunning cover art for an
excellent album. Kudos!
Muthas, 2013 was yet another great year for Metal and we have
picked a Baker’s Dozen of the best metal albums of the year. We’ve also picked the best live releases,
best reissues, best concerts and the biggest disappointments of the year. Read on!
The Thirteen Best Albums of 2013
2013 brought an avalanche of quality steel to abuse your
tattered eardrums. These are the thirteen albums that dominated our turntables,
CD players, and MP3 players at The Metal Blog of Metal.
Enforcer – Death By Fire
Swedish speedsters Enforcer crush skulls on their third LP with
a stellar mixture of U.S. Speed, NWOBHM and Scandinavian Glory Metal. This is a very focused, all killer-no filler
collection of ripping Speed Metal and at just under 40 minutes, it's the perfect length for vinyl. Take a listen to the awesome triumvirate of
“Mesmerized By Fire,” “Take Me Out of This Nightmare,” and “Crystal Suite” if
you want to hear superb traditional metal done like the titans of ye olden
daze. If only Iron Maiden could conjure up something as compelling rather than
being an old man prog band.
Orchid – The Mouth of Madness
The Band That Can Do No Wrong continues their dominance with
their latest full length disc of 70s doom.
The Mouth of Madness is what everybody wanted 13 to sound like, which of
course, it didn’t. Orchid serves up more amazingly hooky traditional metal as if they’ve been doing this since 1971. Damn
these guys are good. Once again, Theo
Mindell’s art matches the music and adds to the overall experience - believe it
or not, things like cover art and fonts matter. You should immediately buy this platter of crushing doom mastery.
Holy Grail – Ride The Void
California metallions Holy
Grail return with an album chock full of guitar wizardry and catchy
anthems. It’s easy to see that they will
be one of the modern traditional metal bands that will gain a large
audience. Once again the songs are loaded with insanely tasty riffs, leads and solos, as well as a pounding bottom end and the masterful vocals of James Paul Luna. They also have an amazing work ethic and are tireless road
warriors. We managed to catch them twice this year alone in two separate cities. Hailz to them for cranking out
a disc that simply announces – WE CAME TO SHRED!
Saxon – Sacrifice
Speaking of road warriors, Saxon has released yet another album of rock hard traditional metal.
This time they have returned to more of the power metal sound they had on Metalhead, rather than the midpaced
material of their last album. The result
is excellent and another solid entry in their lengthy catalog. All hail the mighty Saxon!
Hell – Curse & Chapter
Hell’s second
official album is about 80% new material with a few re-recorded ancient demos. It’s a great follow up to Human Remains and dispels any fears that
Hell wouldn’t be able to put out new
material to match their 80s output. Once
again they offer up a riff-packed journey through diabolically dangerous
metallic landscapes. Definitely worth the coin and
one of the best of the year. Buy it!
Night Demon – Night Demon
This is absolutely our favorite release of 2013 here at The
Metal Blog of Metal. Our opinion of the
album hasn’t changed since we reviewed it here back in May. It’s an amazing EP that showcases a superb
NWOBHM sound akin to Grim Reaper, Iron Maiden and Diamond Head. It’s a goddamn
metal masterpiece in every way possible!
We eagerly await their full length LP in 2014 and it should kick much
ass. Hailz boys and thanks for a great EP!
U.D.O. – Steelhammer
U.D.O. the band
and Udo the man finally crank out an album to match the ferocity of the latest Accept releases and ditch that shitty
electronic guitar sound that had marred their last couple of albums. There are a couple of weird diversions on the
album, but it is dominated by vicious, pounding steel the majority of the
time. Check out our full review here. This is definitely worth adding to
your U.D.O./Accept collection.
Witch Cross – Axe To Grind
Who ever thought Witch
Cross would release another album? Not us, that’s for sure. 1984’s Fit
For Fight is one of the crown jewels of Danish metal, so it would be tough
to follow up. Unfortunately, original
vocalist Alex “Savage” Nyborg Madsen did not take part in the reunion, but, fortunately, the band chose Kevin Moore as his replacement. Moore is a former touring member of Oliver/Dawson Saxon, and as a result, Axe To Grind has a heavy Saxon influence. This is straight down the middle, meat and
potatoes, traditional heavy metal. It’s
nothing fancy, but it’s executed brilliantly and is very enjoyable. Sure, it doesn’t sound like “Tears of a
Clown,” but it still kicks all kinds of ass.
Pick it up!
Motorhead – Aftershock
So who thought we might never hear another Motorhead album? Thankfully, Lemmy and the boys managed to
record one hell of a great album considering Lemmy’s health problems. Amazingly it’s much more aggressive than the somewhat
lackluster The World Is Ours and
there’s not a dull moment on it. It’s
probably their best since Inferno and we have you banging your head with wild
abandon. Isn’t that what you’ve come to
expect from Motorhead? Damn straight it is.
Vicious Rumors – Electric Punishment
Vicious Rumors
continues down the path that they forged with Razorback
Killers and put out another excellent album that showcases their superb
USPM sound. Unfortunately, this album
has gotten lost in the shuffle do to vocalist Brian Allen having to leave the
band due to family issues. Don't let that dissuade you as there are
many killer cuts on it such as “I Am The Gun,” “Electric Punishment,” and
“Thirst For A Kill.” Get it!
Black Sabbath – 13
We expected this album to be an unmitigated disaster, but,
amazingly enough, it’s a good album.
Certainly the cover art is completely lazy bullshit and the album title sucks
ass. Also, the lack of Bill Ward is very
noticeable and the album is another victim of shithead Rick Rubin’s loudness
wars. However, Tony Iommi’s riffs are
amazing as ever, Geezer’s bass is crushing and Ozzy’s voice is acceptable. The tracks sound like either a very good
early Ozzy album, or a Dio Sabbath album with Ozzy on vocals. 13 doesn’t invoke memories of the Sabs 70s mastery (if you want that, listen to the new Orchid), but it’s
not a black mark on their legacy
either. Be sure to pick up the special edition with the track "Naivete In Black" on it, as that song is excellent.
BAT – Primitive Age (Demo)
This was a late entry to the list, but it’s very worthy of
high praise. BAT is made up of Ryan Waste from Municipal Waste and Volture,
Felix Griffin of DRI fame, and Nick
Poulos of Cannabis Corpse and Volture. What we have here is greasy, dirty speed
metal/thrash that pays a great amount of homage to the mighty Venom.
Waste does his best Chronos on vox and bass and the result is cranking
steel fury that will please both the oldest and youngest Thrashers alike. It might only be a demo, but it’s better than
the majority of slickly produced albums that are constantly foisted upon the
Metal buying public. Go here and
download it for free! I hope they do a
7” vinyl release asap! Total wreckage indeed!
Satan – Life Sentence
Well holy shit, this is awesome! One usually cringes when an old NWOBHM band has
a reunion and promises a return to their original sound. Normally the result is a sub-par collection
of middling garbage that fails to re-capture the magic of their early
material. That couldn’t be further from
the truth with Life Sentence because
it’s a face-melting collection of NWOBHM excellence. Brian Ross sounds great and the songs will
wreck your neck like it’s 1982. This
should have been the follow up to Court
In The Act back in the day. Buy this
album immediately if not sooner! Damn it's good!
Live – In the Raw! - The best
live albums/DVDs
Testament – Dark Roots of Thrash
Bay Area bruisers Testament
deliver a new live album/DVD that perfectly captures their current live
set. The camera work on the DVD is
particularly good and it is one of the most cinematic treatments we have seen
of concert footage. The setlist is
evenly split between classics and current material, but omits most of their 90s
output. Thankfully the mix is much
better than the last couple of times we saw Testament live, because you can actually hear Chuck's vocals! If you like Testament then you should definitely add this to your collection.
Dio – Finding The Sacred Heart – Live In Philly
1986
This CD/DVD features Dio at the height of their popularity
with their massive stage show featuring lasers, knights in plate armor and a huge,
animatronic dragon. The band sounds
great and Ronnie is in fine voice.
Viewing the DVD is a somewhat melancholy experience because it will
remind you that the Man On The Silver Mountain has taken his final bow, but
seeing him at his ferocious best helps take your mind off of it. Long Live Rock n Roll!
Iron Maiden – Maiden England ‘88
Another in a long line of Maiden archival releases that really illustrates that Maiden knows how to make money like
Gene Simmons. What you get is the
legendary Maiden England ’88 show on CD/DVD that showcases Maiden on the cusp of slipping into disarray, but still at their peak. They still sounded great at this point and Seventh Son was a decent enough album,
but mediocrity was waiting in the wings.
The second disc of the DVD is especially nice because it features part 3
of the history of Iron Maiden as
well as the long out of print 12 Wasted Years documentary.
Best Reissues
2013 featured several excellent reissues that were long
awaited in the Metal world.
Heretic– From
The Vault…Tortured and Broken
Finally!!! Metal Blade
Records released this excellent box set that includes the Torture Knows No Boundary EP, the Breaking Point LP along with tons of bonus tracks and a DVD! It’s well worth the cost for the EP alone,
which had never officially been released on CD. Grab this one before it
goes out of print!
Jag Panzer – Tyrants, Ample Destruction, Shadow Thief,
Dissident Alliance
We never thought there would be official reissues of Jag Panzer’s early catalog due to disagreements
between former guitarist Joey Tafolla and the rest of the band. Somehow that was all worked out and not only
do we get these reissues, but Joey is back in the band! You can pitch your shitty bootlegs in the
trash and snap up these reissues from High Roller Records in a variety of
formats – CD, colored Vinyl, Picture Disc and even a luxurious Picture Disc
box set. All the releases have been nicely
remastered with loads of bonus tracks and restored artwork. Buy or die!
Y&T – Earthquake: The A&M Years 1981-1985
This is a very nice 4 disc box set with the best output form
San Francisco legends Y&T. The set includes the Earthquake, Black Tiger, Meanstreak, In Rock We Trust, and Down For The Count studio albums along
with the Open Fire and BBC Friday Rock Show live albums. This release showcases Y&T at the peak of their careers and is fairly cheap as
well. If you don’t already own these
albums, you should definitely buy this and enjoy the hard rocking excellence of
a band that should have been huge.
Witch Cross– All
That’s Fit For Fighting
This superb 3CD/1 DVD box set essentially purges the vaults
of everything Witch Cross did before
their new album Axe To Grind. You get the ultra-classic Fit For Fight along with all their 80s demos and, amazingly enough,
a DVD of a live show and music videos(!) that had never seen the light of
day. It’s all wrapped up in a very nice,
thick, flip top box with a magnetic closure.
Truly an exceptional release and a must have for fans of classic Metal.
Best Concerts
Metal Alliance Tour –
4/7/13 Cincinnati, Ohio
Great package tour featuring, Anthrax, Exodus, Municipal Waste, High On Fire and Holy Grail
ripping it up for 5 hours! All the bands
sounded great and it was a real treat to get our copies of Among The Living and Worship
Music signed. The only complaint was
that Holy Grail didn’t have a very
long set as it would have been nice to hear more from them.
The mighty Orange Goblin tore it up on Halloween weekend in the Steel City. They played an energetic set featuring songs from most of their albums. It was their second swing through town in just 6 months and they did not disappoint. Holy Grail once again was excellent and proved that they should be making the step up to headliner soon.
Biggest Disappointments
Ghost
– Infestissumam
It’s become fashionable to hate on Ghost
because of all the coverage they get in the music press, but the problem with
their new album doesn’t have anything to do with hype. The real problem is Infestissumam is
mostly boring and forgettable. The album
sounds pleasant enough, but nothing really sticks in the memory after the album
is done. In fact, the If You Have Ghost
EP is more interesting and it consists of cover songs. Try working on some more memorable hooks
guys and better luck next time.
Newsted
– Heavy Metal Music
We really wanted to like this album and it pains us to have to write
this. Jason is a great guy and his
enthusiasm for his new band and metal is
obvious. Unfortunately, Heavy Metal Music is
rather bland and generic and Jason's vocals leave much to be desired. The whole album sounds like a heavy/alt
record that would have been released in 1994. Blah. Also, what’s with all the
stupid song titles like “Soldierhead,” “Ampossible,” “Kindevillusion,” and “Futureality?” Stop that shit Jason, it's goofy. Here’s hoping that his next album is killer. Have a great 2014, and, as always, MAKE MINE METAL!
