The Best Records by Year: The 2010s

2012

However, this is a first: Vintersorg appears on his solo band's album and as a vocalist on the Borknagar and these are my two favorite records of the year. That's never happened before. I started getting into Alcest though 2012's offering isn't their strongest. Module, the creator of the Shatter soundtrack, put out a very cool solo album.

Sadly, beyond that, I was not wowed by anything. Testament and Anathema's LPs were OK. The new Burzum had a good first half. Rodrigo Y Gabriela put out reworked songs with a Cuban band...but I'd heard those songs before and I enjoy the quaint nature of the two-piece. Tenacious D has some good songs.

Everything else was either disappointing or just plain 'meh'. Quite certainly the weakest year in an age. Sad...really.

Album D'Année
1. Vintersorg	Orkan
2. Borknagar	Urd
FUCK YEAH!
Alcest	Les Voyages De L'åme
Module	Imagineering
Good
Anathema	Weather Systems
Burzum	Umskiptar
Rodrigo Y Gabriela	Area 52
Tenacious D	Rize Of The Fenix
Testament	Dark Roots Of Earth
Just Couldn't Get Into
Naglfar	TŽras
Lamb Of God	Resolution
The Blood Of Heroes	The Waking Nightmare
Council Estate Electronics	Longmeadow
Down	The Purple EP
Agalloch	Faustian Echoes
Worth Mentioning?
Final	Burning Bridges Will Light Your Way
Katatonia	Dead End Kings
Neurosis	Honor Found In Decay
Christopher Amott	Impulses
Cradle Of Filth	Midnight In The Labyrinth
Citizen Cope	One Lovely Day
JK Flesh	Posthuman

2011

2011 was a year to be excited about. It was also a year of the epic horrible. There were some surprises, some delightful surprises. Let's see...

First off, I got into three new bands. Moonsorrow is the first, and their album was AotY back in spring when I first heard it. So good. So heavy, so fantastic. As for the other two, Skeletonwitch is perfect thrash/speed/riff/death/excellence. Sadly, their newest isn't their best, but it's so riffy I forgive them. Insomnium suffers the same fate. So good, but their prior albums were better. Still, I love their sound and am psyched to have been introduced to three new, awesome bands.

The long wait for Einherjer's reunion LP left me...unimpressed. However, after subsequent spins, I'm thrilled they're back. It's a great blend of viking and metal, just it's different from what I expected. I love it. Lantlôs is back with their 3rd release and I am in love. It's heavy, but it's mellow. It's just greatness...as is My Dying Bride's 30-minute, one-song EP. I love it. After being disappointed by their last, this was a welcome surprise.

Amon Amarth is solid, if not the same as everything else (forgiven).

Children Of Bodom is solid, if not the same as everything else (but I'll never listen to it...why is that so? Just not fair.)

Demonaz! Haha...that's a cool record. Sounds like what I used to write back in '98...just more Immortal-y. The new Arch Enemy has no flaws, but I find myself skipping it a lot. Same for Amorphis. The Anthrax, you know, the first in 20 years with Joey, well, I love it. It's got some really catchy songs and man, Joey's voice is still there! ROck on! I love the MDB 'classical' record, whatever you might call it. Not an every-day listen, but it's so perfect when you are in the mood.

Please don't make me talk about Megadeth. You were great, then SUCKED, then were awesome again and....THIS? I knew once Junior rejoined it would go to shit. I can't even make it through a whole song.

Speaking of unlistenable. Two words: Opeth and Heritage. Listen, they can do whatever they want, but this is just bad on every level. I don't want to talk any more...so bad.

Album D'Année
Moonsorrow	Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
FUCK YEAH!
Einherjer	Norrøn
Lantlôs	Agape
My Dying Bride	The Barghest O'Whitby
Oh Yeah
Amon Amarth	Surtur Rising
Amorphis	The Beginning Of Times
Anthrax	Worship Music
Arch Enemy	Khaos Legions
Children Of Bodom	Relentless Reckless Forever
Demonaz	March Of The Norse
Falkenbach	Tiurida
Insomnium	One For Sorrow
My Dying Bride	Evinta
Pale Sketcher	Seventh Heaven
Skeletonwitch	Forever Abomination
Merely Good...If That...
Burzum	Fallen
Jesu	Ascension
Please Make The Pain Stop...
The Haunted	Unseen
Megadeth	Th1rt3en
Metallica & Lou Reed	Lulu
Opeth	Heritage

2010

A new decade perhaps, but nothing major is new. Just a solid year of metal records!

I think the Exodus is AOTY. It's just a riff & solo masterpiece. I read a complaint that the songs were too long, but I don't care. People still herald Justice as brilliant and those songs just go on and on and on! Exodus...OH YEAH.

Now, I've gone back (2 years later) to add Alcest whose ƒcailles de Lune is just spectacular.

Does Kalmah know how to put out a bad record? While the last wasn't as good as earlier efforts, 12 Gauge is better, returning to the riffy/doodle roots which I love. It's not as memorable, again, as older albums, but I never tire of Kalmah. Soilwork! That first song rocks and, sadly makes the rest of the album a bit weaker. They're not the only band to have done this, placed the best song of the bunch first (The Cure - Wild Mood Swings, too bad the rest of that album sucks). I love the CD though, SO MUCH better than recent ones.

Some albums just don't do much for me. The new Blind Guardian, for one, was a highly-anticipated CD that...well...I feel as if I've heard before (and better). Why listen to this when A Night At The Opera does it better? On the other hand, Belus, the long-awaited Burzum return sounds exactly like Filosofem...and I couldn't care less! I love it. I suppose that's not fair, is it?

Anathema. Man, I've been waiting for this one for a long time. Now it's here and...I don't listen much. I prefer the original versions of the 3 songs released, and I love the album but...don't know. Yeah, reviewing isn't fair.

Fear Factory, Witchery, Borknagar...all good, not great, and I won't likely listen much. Maiden's album is better than the last, but who cares? The record is selling like crazy in Europe. I like a few tracks that feel different. They'll never live up to Chemical Wedding. Oh, Overkill. Put track 6 on. Damn, that shit rules. That's metal right there.

Dimmu is good. Forbidden is good. Amorphis' re-recording is...yeah. Good. None are killer.

Did I say killer? October Tide is fantastic. The new Lantlôs is utterly phenomenal! Agalloch! They aren't powerful metal records, but they are all powerful.

Album D'Année
Exodus	Exhibit B: The Human Condition
FUCK YEAH!
Alcest	ƒcailles de Lune
Kalmah	12 Gauge
Lantlôs	.neon
October Tide	A Thin Shell
Soilwork	The Panic Broadcast
Oh Yeah
Anathema	We're Here Because We're Here
Iron Maiden	The Final Frontier
Burzum	Belus
The Blood Of Heroes	The Blood Of Heroes
Dimmu Borgir	Abrahadabra
Forbidden	Omega Wave
Amorphis	Magic & Mayhem
Pale Sketcher	Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed
Borknagar	Universal
Dark Tranquillity	We Are The Void
Overkill	Ironbound
Good
Blind Guardian	At The Edge Of Time
Fear Factory	Mechanize
Witchery	Witchkrieg
Cradle Of Filth	Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Solefald	Norrøn Livskunst
Obscurity	Tenkterra
Live Records
Megadeth	Rust In Peace - Live
Amorphis	Forging The Land Of Thousand Lakes
Immortal	The Seventh Date Of Blasrykh
Down	Diary Of A Mad Band